Over the past couple of days my Freezer and Refrigerator have been fluctuating in temperature while not reaching the desired temperature.

I cleaned out from under it a couple of days ago, and then today realized there was also dust build-up on the front grill, and cleaned it off. Hoping it would solve my problem.

Unfortunately a couple of hours later both compartments are increasing in temperature. After the cleaning the fans ran, and as of this writing the compressor was hot, but nothing is running. I'm not sure what else to check, or if my next step is a house visit from the repair man.

While continuing to monitor performance, I took a closer look at the components. While I cleaned the condenser, I came across a condenser cleaning brush that caused me to look closer at my own cleaning job.

Using a flashlight, since my condenser is an under mount, I could see that there was more dust to remove. I do not have a cleaning brush but made do with some household items. I also realized that the condenser tapered to the back of the refrigerator, which I was forcing some of the dust into this crevice. First using a household vacuum, I upgraded to a shop vac to blow the dust out from the front and the back. The result was a much cleaner condenser coil. I could see light penetrate through.

My freezer is currently empty except for an ice cube tray and a thermometer in the refrigerator for monitoring. It will be a few hours before I know if it is back in working order.

I am also having freezer issues with our son's GE refrigerator. I went onto the GE website and it said to make sure that you keep the freezer 2/3 full with stuff or that will cause it not to freeze. So it suggested to fill 2/3 full water jugs and turn up the dial to the freezer every 12 hours until we reach the higher freezer temp (which is 9). I'll let you know IF it works we just started this process last night.

Continuing to document my progress occurring earlier today. . .

There were intermittent times when I saw my condenser fan running. So I took the fan blade off and plugged the refrigerator back into the outlet. The compressor started and the axle of the condenser fan began to spin. So I put the fan blade back on and tested again. The compressor started, but the fan blade did not begin to spin until I gave it a little assist (since I left the access cover off.) The blade was not giving off much of a draft, so there was no way it could be doing an efficient job.

Here I have to confess that I did not previously mention that the center of my fan blade was consistently too hot , or became too hot to touch before and during my diagnosis. After a little research on electric motors, I learned that they should never become too hot to touch otherwise the magnets become damaged and the motor can burn out, or will perform to a lower standard.
I believe this to be my situation. Of course there could be more than one failure, but I won't know that until I fix the fan motor, which I ordered and will not receive until Tuesday.

My refrigerator is performing by keeping the temperature at the high end of "safe" for food, per my thermometer. The freezer only froze the surface of my test ice cubes. So I put some of my more perishable refrigerated products in the freezer.

Hopefully all will last until Tuesday. I have a backup freezer, so I am covered there.

BTW: Compressors get hot and turn off automatically until they return to an operating temperature. They are unlike the electric motor that I am addressing which is damaged from too much heat. I read that the condenser fan also assists in keeping the compressor cooler.

The first refrigerator could have a compressor problem. You will need to check the condenser coils, which on this Amana you will need to disassemble the inside of the freezer to get to it. If there is no frost on the coils, or only frost on the ends, then the compressor is bad - time for a new fridge.

The second refrigerator could have an issue with the thermostat. The entire Amana unit is cooled through the freezer's condenser coils. There is ventilation between the freezer and the refrigerator. Also, make sure that the ventilation slots are not blocked.

Your third situation sounds like my original post. My condenser fan, located in the back bottom corner was faulty, but it was the result of the dusty condensation coils underneath the refrigerator. Be sure to clean out under the fridge. There is a brush that you can buy, and depending, you may get some success from a vacuum. I used a shop vac.