I have a LG side by side. The freezer is not getting cold enough to freeze. I took the back off and found a bunch of ice build up on the coils and cleaned it off. The coils instantly got cold but the freezer never got cold enough to freeze. The fridge is staying cold but not as cold as it should be on the highest setting. Any advice>

Unplug the fridge and then check the condenser coils for dust and dirt and debris buildup. Clean the condenser coils if they appear dirty. Continue to keep cleaning the coils when you do routine refrigerator repairs and Check to see if the condenser fan is working properly when you see the freezer is not getting cold enough.The condenser fan might need to be replaced for the freezer.

start with locating and cycling the defrost timer switch, generally found in the refrigerator side. The timer controls a heating element designed to melt off ice build up on the interior freezer coils. if the timer is bad, ice will build up, blocking air flow to the refrigerator section (making it not cool) and eventually build up enough so that the internal fan actually hits ice, making unusual noises. most timers can be manually driven with a flat head screwdriver, do it with the power connected, when you reach the defrost cycle you will hear the fans and compressor shut off, and you should be able to feel warmth on the back panel in the freezer after a few minutes.

if you find the timer isn't working properly, it is not difficult to replace, take your time, take pictures as you go along so reassembly is easier, and of course have the frige unplugged when you do it.

It could be many things. My first guess would be the defrost. The coil that gets cold in your freezer builds ice on it and the only way to get the ice off is to run a heater near the coil long enough for the ice to melt. All freezers have something built in to defrost and domestic are typically just an electric heater on a timer. When your freezer stops working again, you may want to pull open the panel of your freezer and see if your coil (a heat exchanger that probably looks a lot like your car radiator) is covered in ice. If it is, it could be the timer or the actual heater that is bad.

If the machine is running all the time a few things could be happening, The defrost timer could be bad, but if that is the case then you should see a build up of ice forming on the wall that covers the evaporator coils. Another situation is that your machine is low on freon and not reaching a temperature cold enough for the temperature control to shut the machine off. Third and last the temperature control itself could be bad and thinks the machine isn't cold enough. in that situation you would notice ice build up as well. Hopefully this helps.

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First look at back wall of freezer toward the bottom and see if you have frost build up on the wall. If you do the problem is most likely the defrost heater and you will need to remove back wall of freezer, melt the ice from the coils and then change the heater at the bottom of the evap. coils.

If the freezer is staying cold it sounds like a defrost system problem. A bad timer, heater or thermostat can cause frost to build up on the coils and block air flow to the refrig side. Check out ACMEHowTo.com for troubleshooting the defroster problem.
There is a small duct between the freezer and refrigerator side if this is blocked the frig side won't cool.

Mine is doing the same thing

We have the same problem: We own a Fridgedare FRS26ZXH that's about 10 years old. We went to the following website: http://www.refrigerators.com/refrigeratortroubleshooting.aspx
and found a solution.

A refrigerator self-defrosts about four times a day. If a part of the self-defrosting system stops working, the refrigerator keeps cooling. This causes frost and ice to build up on the evaporator coils, which keeps air from the circulating fan, which in turn prevents the refrigerator from cooling properly. It sounds contradictory, but if there's ice building up in your freezer, your refrigerator probably isn't cold enough either. We could not see the coils in the back of the freezer compartment (should be shiny aluminum color). All we could see was ice build up over what might look like a vent.

We carefully blew warm air on these coils with a hair dryer until we could see the coils. Time will tell the cause of this problem if it happens again. It may be coincidence that the outside temp went into the teens and my 4 year old flipped off our house's heating system overnight, causing the issue.

If the problem is with the defrost system, it's either the defrost timer, defrost heater, or defrost thermostat.

YOU NEED TO CHECK THAT YOUR HEATER ELEMENT AND SENSORS ARE FUNCTIONING WELL AS THAT WILL CAUSE THE ICE BUILD UP AND THE UNIT NOT TO WORK PROPERLY. GOODLUCK.MOHAMED

feel the sides or the coils on back if it has any see if they are hot or cold