Just started to experience an intermitent wining noise which seems to be coming from the freezer section. Fridge freezer is just over 5 years old.

Start out with the easy stuff first...make sure the lights go out when you close the door(s), make sure the doors are closing properly and the gaskets are closing fully and not torn. Check to make sure the evaporator fan in the freezer is working, this fan blows the cold air around. If the fan is not working, possible bad fan motor - check for power to the fan motor and also check the fan switches around the door openings, ( if your fridge has these switches, not all do ). A common problem cropping up in the last several years has been the air damper not opening up and allowing the cold air from the freezer to be blown into the fresh food section ( mostly on SxS refrigerators ). For many years the air damper was manually operated and now we have motorized controlled or temperature controlled or thermistor and electronic boards controlling air dampers, and if this device sticks closed the FF section will normally warm up. An example picture of "one" style and an air damper ( called a diffuser by Whirlpool ). Next would be to check the condenser tubing, a good place to start is to make sure the condenser coils are not built up with dust!! Make sure the condenser fan motor is also working properly. Check for any "clicking on and off" noises from the compressor, is the compressor running.
The most common fridge "not cooling" problem is a frost free failure. Remove the access panel in the freezer section to expose the evaporator coils. If the coils in the freezer section get plugged up with frost, this frost will block the evaporator fan motor from blowing the cold air around. The fan blade can also hit this frost and either become noisy or stop altogether. Locating the defrost timer can be tricky....they are often hidden behind the back bottom corners of the fridge at the bottom, in the last few years the timers have been located in the ceiling of the fresh food section, and some behind the cold control cover. Once you locate the defrost timer, slowly turn the screw like wheel in the middle of the defrost timer with a straight screwdriver until the fridge shuts off. You are now in defrost. If the defrost heater(s) comes on now, replace the defrost timer and defrost thermostat. If the heater(s) does not come on, you can ohm test the defrost heater for continuity or volt test for 120 volts to the heater(s). If you have no power to the defrost heater(s) you can also bypass the defrost thermostat to see if the defrost heater will come on, join the 2 wires together to bypass the defrost thermostat. If the heater now comes on, replace the defrost timer and defrost thermostat. If the heater itself is bad, defrost the fridge with a hair dryer, replace the defrost heater* and defrost thermostat. If the defrost timer seems "hot" to the touch or is noisy ( like a ticking or screeching noise )...replace it. Then make sure all the vents are clear and not being blocked by food cartons. One new safety device added to refrigerators in the last few years has been a in-line fuse added to both sides of the defrost heater. If one of these fuses let's go, you must replace the whole defrost heater, as it comes as an assembly. If the defrost heater does not work, you should check for one of these fuses being open. Check it with a volt meter or ohm meter.
New link from Appliance Repair Aid on how the wiring circuit works for a frost free fridge, the link is here.
On a frost free refrigerator, the cooling coils should be in the freezer section. On a SxS style refrigerator the coils will be behind a cover on the back wall. On a freezer on top style the coils could be behind the back wall or under the freezer floor. Removing the cover and exposing the evaporator coils could be a valuable tool. Seeing what the cooling coils looks like may help split your not cooling problem. Totally covered coils with white snow is a frost free problem. and the rest are bare is an indication of a system problem
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If there is no cooling at all , before we go further we must confirm the first step of confirming the compressor and gas pressure. So shut off the fridge and leave it off while you clean and check the evaporator for frost. If frost is seen it is a good indication as the compressor is working with sufficient gas within.
Now after about 6 hours plug in the fridge to start. Observe cooling to happen in about one hour and ice to from under three hours.
Earlier make sure that the thermostat was set to normal mode for freezer and fridge. If there is no ice formation we have a big issue as the compressor and gas must be checked out. If compressor is running check the pressure, get help to test gas pressure. If not you will need to fill up ,If gas pressure is good the possibility of the compressor being inefficient is high. In such a case you must take consensus to estimate and decide, if RPM of motor is low check capacitor.
However if Ice forms then observe the fridge for about 24 hours for cooling to continue and the fridge to cut off . If not the auto defrost timer, or the thermostat must be checked.
If defrost timer works but frost keeps forming check while the compressor shuts if the heaters are working, check continuity of the heaters.
So try this test from the outside and make your observations so that we come to the solution.

Remove cabinet cover and observe what's going on.

That sounds like an a refrigeration engineer is required as if the gas pressure has dropped, it will no longer cool properly.

Hi,

Many times a freezer and/or refrigerator do not work right because of a dirty condenser coil...there are also many other things that can go wrong.

If you are hearing a clicking or buzzing then check out the last two tips.

If your refrigerator is running but warm, then...

Check out these tips that I wrote about that... it is a great place to start trouble shooting your unit...and something that you can do rather then calling a repair person to do a simple thing for you...

Refrigerator Condenser Coil Cleaning Refrigerator Repair

Refrigerator Troubleshooting Refrigerator Compressor

Refrigerator Compressor Start Capacitor and Start Relay

Refrigerator or Freezer not Cooling or Getting Cold

heatman101

I had the exact same problem with the same model and mine was just 3 years old. My problems started when I defrosted the freezer. I spent 75gbp on an engineer who told me that I had probably 'spooked' the fridge when I defrosted the freezer, that this particular model of fridge wasn't designed to last longer than 2 years.

I would recommend you check the door is shutting properly (check the screws at the top, it might be just slightly out of alignment).... I turned the whole unit off for over 2 days to allow absolutely everything to defrost (both inside and on the back of it)... within 30 minutes of turning it on, the back of my fridge was already frosted over.

Engineer told me not to waste money calling them out again, and to buy another one...

The clicking you are hearing is the relay unit. Now it is for sure that the compressor is not working as the relay keep s tripping off.
So first of all to clear this doubt, let us checck the relay unit which is clicking. remove and check. most of the time the relays need to be replaced as a poor contact will not deliver good voltage to the compressor and it will shut off. So check this out.
One the compressor works and you notice there is cooling the sytem seems ok except that you must check if the thermostat, the auto defrost cut off timer works.
If after the compressor works the cooling is not good then you can decide on a replacement than to spend for expensive repairs

Inside the freezer, at the back is another fan that circulates cold air from the freeze through out the fridge. Make sure it's running. Sometimes the blade will slip on the shaft and get jammed, or the motor could be defective.

Hi, yes as soon as your refill the compressor with the gas, your fridge will cool up and the freezer will start making blocks...

Take care

It's probably a dry bearing on either the compressor or the fan in the freezer. The evaporator, I believe it's called.

For more Goldstar / LG / L.G. help, call 1-800-243-0000 (M-F, 7am-8pm CT, Sat 8-5 CT) and choose the appropriate prompt from the menu or visit here.

If it's under a year old, it's probably in warranty. You can get warranty info & find a local authorized servicer from there, too.

To order Goldstar / L.G. parts for a do it yourself repair, visit Vance Baldwin Electronics. You'll probably have to call them.

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