[fantasy]

Our side by side fridge and freezer are on the coldest setting, yet the fridge is not cold enough and the freezer is not completely freezing food etc. The ice maker is not producing ice at all. The fan in the freezer is working. But the compressor unit on the bottom of the fridge seems to be extremely hot. We have blown a lot of dust and lint from around the compressor and what looks like a grate that the fan is blowing onto. We have now turned the fridge off to cool the compressor.

[woodchuck]

Below the evaporator fan is the evaporator coils. Remove the back cover in the freezer to observe the frost pattern. stopped up? clear? ice in one spot . frost everywhere.


If the evaporator coils behind the back panel of the freezer are icing up because of auto defrost failure that will stop the circulation of cold air and eventually affect the freezer too.

check defrost timer, defrost heater, defrost thermostat
Refrigerator Repair Guide: How To Fix a Refrigerator - ACME HOW TO.com

Since you've turned it off, if it had ice buildup it may have melted. If that was the problem it will happen again in a week or so.