We've had a series of issues with our Fridge that I suspect comes from one thing, but the symptoms keep moving around. My wife has already yelled at me for defrosting the system and ruining all our food once so before I empty it out and dive in again I was hoping to get a more experienced view.

A couple weeks ago, I noticed Fridge was a bit warm, food going bad early, and compressor seemed to be running continuously. We vacuumed out coils under fridge, really covered in dust, bad. That seemed to allow the compressor to cycle off/on again. But the Fridge was still warm so I ordered a Thermometer.

The thermometer shows Fridge is 55F, I freak out and empty the Fridge, notice the return vents in the middle panel are filled with ice. It has deformed the vent a bit. So we blow some hot air on those with a hair dryer for a while, then button back up.

A few hours later, the Refrigerator side is at 70F while the Freezer is still 0F. Now I start getting help, thanks Forums!

Airflow through the damper is nil, so I push a screwdriver in and notice that the damper gate slides very easily (70F+ at this time). When open I get cool air from the Freezer. I also see frost buildup in the back of the freezer, assume that's due to the compressor coil starvation earlier. Emptied and defrosted the entire unit for 8 hours hoping that will clear out the return vents as well.

Turned system back on and now I'm at 0F & 55F+ again. So I open the damper with a screwdriver and push a zip-tie in to hold it open. Fridge drops down to 45F. But now the damper is mostly closed and more interesting, resists movement. I shove the screwdriver tip in a bit (gently) and force it open 1.5mm or less and leave it like that. Now I'm down to 36-40F in the Refrigerator section. I don't think the damper is opening at all or the screwdriver would have dropped out.

So that sounds like bad damper to me, but I don't know how these work. Are they activated by a thermistor somewhere else? Or are they a wax-plug thermostat like device that is entirely passive?

Now that the system is running in proper temps I'm watching the eval coil to see if it is building up frost. I now know I should have started there, but oh well.

I've checked the break down diagrams and don't see a defrost timer to check, just a start dev (relay?) and run capacitor which I assume kicks the compressor on.

Any guidance would be appreciated. I get one more shot at this before my wife demands we buy a new Refrigerator.

Thanks Denman.

Using the service sheet, I ran the diagnostics and test 1 & 2 pass. Those are the FC and RC thermistors. The other tests require testing line voltage which I have not exposed yet. But I did hear the evap fan and compressor come on at the right points. Still not sure about the damper.

I exposed the evaporative coil today and it's coated with frost, but all vanes are open. This really looks okay to me, no excess build-up. I assume that means the defrost circuit is working as well?

I removed my screwdriver and zip-tie from the damper door today. It's been making funny noises for the past few days. Now it's closed again, but the fridge temp is in range. I'm going to leave the door open for a while and see if I can get it to cycle.

Sounds like you are getting closer.

Below is a manual which may be helpful although I do not know if it is an exact match to your unit.
http://appliancejunk.com...wnloads;sa=view;down=215
You will have to join the site and be logged in to be able to download it.