My MFD2560HES side by side with bottom freezer is not cooling any more. I purchased a new compressor relay/capacitor and replaced it today. It worked just fine for about 3 hours and then it started doing the same thing again. The compressor makes a humming noise about every 3 minutes or so and it feels very warm/hot to the touch. I am finally giving up with this thing. It is about 5 years old and has worked flawlessly until about a week ago. Has the compressor gone bad?

I have the same refrigerator and it is the same age as yours. We just replaced the compressor back in November. Sounds like the same problem.

I've been told by a tech who repaired my MFD2560HEQ this past week that many of this model had a problem with compressor failure. Your symptoms are classic. What you are hearing is the starter relay trying to start a warm/hot compressor by supplying it with an extra jolt of electricity, but because of the faulty compressor (or if you are lucky a faulty relay) that's warm (cool ones start more easily often) is refusing to budge into motion and compress the freon. Maytag, I believe, has a five year warranty on the compressors. They did on mine, but unless you have an extended warranty the labor replacing it is not covered and that will be around 2-3 hours worth. This is the price we are paying for our quest for energy efficiency. Compressors are being built so small and light that they fail much more often than grandma's old, old refrigerator that was built like Fort Knox and ran for 45 years, remember? But we're being energy efficient! Thank you environmental extremists! I wish I could send you the repair bill. When the compressor completely cools down a new or even an old relay may be able to start it, but with this model, I am told, when it warms up/gets hot, it has a tendency to lock up and the voltage from a regulation relay is not enough to start it. In fact in the attempt to do so you may even have a problem with it starting on fire, so be careful.