Refrigerator Not Cooling

Scenario briefing

The call

A customer reports the refrigerator section is warm while the freezer still feels reasonably cold. Milk is spoiling on the top shelf, ice cream is still firm.

They also hear a click every 30 to 40 seconds from the back or bottom of the unit. No error code, and the lights and controls work normally.

That click is either a start relay and overload cycling or an inverter driver retrying and faulting out. Work the sequence: observe, identify which start system this compressor uses, then prove it with a reading.

1. 1CompressorThe click every 30–40 seconds is a start attempt failing. Lay a hand on the shell: silence and no vibration between clicks means it never ran.Commonly fails: Locked rotor, open or shorted windings, or a compressor that trips its overload seconds after start.Symptoms on the call: A click-hum-click cycle every few minutes, no cooling, and a compressor body that gets hot without producing a temperature split.Often misdiagnosed as: Calling the compressor dead when the start device is the actual fault — the most expensive mistake on this call.Rule out first: Test the start relay and overload, and confirm supply voltage at the compressor before you condemn it.Expect to see: Good: compressor starts and runs, condenser warms, suction line cools. Bad: winding open, shorted to the shell, or a locked rotor with a proven-good start device. Upstream: no supply voltage at all is a control or defrost-timer problem.
2. 2Start relay / overload or inverter boardPrime suspect on a click-click-warm-box call. On a relay unit: shake it, look for scorching, read continuity. On an inverter unit: verify supply and command before condemning the driver.
3. 3Condenser coilsPacked coils raise head pressure and trip the overload. Two minutes with a brush rules this in or out for free.
4. 4Condenser fanA stalled condenser fan cooks the compressor and makes the overload cycle. Confirm it spins freely and is commanded.
5. 5Evaporator fanA dead evap fan gives a cold freezer with a warm fridge — but it never clicks at the compressor. Pattern alone is not a diagnosis.
6. 6Main control / power boardMany units carry a main power board and a separate user-interface board. Last suspects: prove the compressor is commanded and the start components are bad first.