[donnab]

My son's side by side Kenmore freezer gets frosty then freezes a solid block of ice behind the back panel with melting mice oninside of freezer walls, but only when icemaker is turned on. After the problem first occured we defrosted in totally and restarted it, only to have it freeze up again. After a second defrosting we left the icemaker turned off and it worked for about 5 weeks. We tried turning the icemaker back on and within a few days it was getting frosty again. Any advice would be appreciated.

[woodchuck]

The ice forming on the evaporator coils behind the back panel indicates a problem with your auto defrost system. Check defrost timer, defrost heater, defrost thermostat. Refrigerator Repair Guide: How To Fix a Refrigerator - ACME HOW TO.com

In most of the new units they now have the adaptive defrost control instead of a timer. It senses when to defrost based on how many times and for how long the door is opened. It's more energy efficient but there does seem to be lots of problems with the board. Post your model number to find which yours has.

I don't know the relationship with the ice maker.