The fridge compartment was heavily iced on the back of the inside it has now stopped working both fridge and freezer compartments no longer work

Classic symptom of: the connection passageway between the freezer and the fridge compartment
has closed off - usually due to ice buildup - or something clogging/blocking the passageway.
Your Refrigerator works by releasing cold air into only the freezer, then this cold air passes thru
a passageway into the fridge compartment to cold (but not freeze) the fridge compartment contents.
If this passageway is blocked, then just the freezer works, and cold air never makes it into the
fridge compartment. In the old days, you'd be told to defrost your freezer, since the blockage
was ALWAYS caused by frost buildup. Today, we have frost-free freezers, and your freezer may
simply have too much stuff inside - there has to be some room to allow some air flow around
items in the freezer, and whichever item is blocking the air passage to the fridge compartment -
just move it away from the passageway opening.

the evaporator coil inside the freezer compartment is iced over and can't transfer cold air in thes condition,remove panel inside freezer on back side of freezer compartment and thaw it out with a hair dryer,then check the defrost heating element for continuity,if its open replace it,if its good, ,check the defrost control that powers the defrost heater

I removed the freezer drawers removed back panel inside the freezer,and discovered that ice had built up around the vent which cools the fridge compartment once I melted this using a hair dryer put it back together and the fridge compartment works fine.

How to check everything
http://www.acmehowto.com/howto/appliance/refrigerator/refrigerator.php


The fridge gets its cold air from the freezer through a vent(damper) between the freezer and fridge.The fan in the freezer blows air through it. There is a flap you adjust with the fridge temp. control. Make sure it's opening and closing when you adjust the fridge temp .

OR.
If the evaporator coils behind the back panel of the freezer are icing up because of auto defrost failure that will stop the circulation of cold air and eventually affect the freezer too.

check defrost timer, defrost heater, defrost thermostat. In most newer models the timer has been replaced by an electronic control board. If the heater and thermostat are ok it’ll be the control.

You can turn the defrost timer till it clicks and everything shuts down. The heater should now come on. If it does, replace the timer. If it doesn't, check the heater and defrost thermostat. Turn the timer again till everything starts back up to end the defrost cycle.

clean the coil behind the fridge or under the fridge (where ever they are) and make sure both fans are running, the one in the freezer and the one underneath

Hi,maybe I can shed a little light.I don`t know where the defrost timer is,but I would melt the ice with a hair dryer and real warm water(it will make a mess so be ready).There will be a drain inside of the freezer compartment,on the inside.Some how the rear panel inside the freezer compartment comes out.You may have to take apart the whole inside of the freezer compartment just to remove this rear panel.But when you do look for ice build up on bottom of freezing unit,and the rearof the freezer compartment.Melt this ice the same way earlier described.You will find a drain that starts inside the bottom-rear of the freezer compartment.This drain goes all the way down to the bottom of the fridge.You will find a very shallow drip pan under the fridge.This pan will most of the time only receive a little amount of water at a time and evaporates quickly.Now while you thaw this drain,water will start draining threw the drain,if it is not stoped up with food particles and such.This would be a good tome to blow threw this ine from the bottom where it drains into the pan underneth the fridge.Then blow threw it at the top in the freezer compartment.You can use a air tank with a blow gun.Be sure to pour water threw and down this drain to wash out all particles left behind.Clean the freezer compartment out good(the particles of food and such) and reassemble the freezing unit.plug fridge back up and set the freezer control to a respectfull setting(not the coldest and not real cold)and set the frideration to a decent setting for food preservation. Let the fridge and freezer run 12 to 24 hours to see if your problem comes back,and then time will tell if your defrost timer is bad,or is working like it should.When the drain clogs,it starts freezing away from the defrost elements and continues freezing the blocked water untill it overtakes the coils .The defrost and the timer don`t stay on long enough,or hot enough to overcome the ice.This is the reason you should try this solution first.If I can help you anymore,let me know [email protected] /let me know how it turns out

it sounds like the timer is going bad.... there is a timer that runs the fridge for 6 hrs. and defrosts for 20 mins. if the contacts are pitted ,it will run for shorted periods ..... this timer can be located anywhere from behind the unit where the compressor is to inside the regrigerator compartment ...

Yes, I think you have a problem that can be fixed easily by a repair technician. The sound as you described it could have come from the air circulation fan in the freezer compartment striking ice. As the ice builds up it could have stopped the fan from rotating and air flow to the refrigerator compartment.

Sounds like the evap fan is not running. The fan takes cold air from the freezer to cool the refer compartment. If the freezer is cold the compressor is running. Generally the freezer will stay cold since the cooling coils are there but it must have the fan working to get the air up to the refer area. Pull everything out the freezer and take the back panel off to view the coils and fan, etc. It's a simple easy job to change the fan. If you find the coils are a total block of ice then it's another problem... the defrost cycle isn't working. Sooo... see if the fan is running in the freezer compartment first. See http://www.partselect.com/Schematics/Maytag/AA43-57.gif for fan location, item 18 is the fan motor. Let us know what you find out.