Frigidaire FFTR1814LME freezer not getting cold enough

[Ebash45]

Hello, I have a 7 year old Frigidaire top mount refrigerator that I am stuck at what to do next to try and resolve my issue. ISSUE: Freezer isnt getting cold enough to keep things frozen anymore. Refrigerator temperature seems to be OK but am not certain as I need to get a thermometer to put in there. What the fridge is doing is cycling on every 5-10 minutes and then cycling off for about the same time. MY STEPS so far: 1) Pulled the fridge out and cleaned the dust off everything, including pulling blades off the condenser fan and cleaning that, and remounting. No change. 2) Pulled the condenser cover off immediatley after an On cycle ended and confirmed that frost pattern looked normal, light frost evenly distributed, no built up ice or snow anywhere. I manually turned on defrost and confirmed the heating unit turned on as the frost melted away within 5 minutes or so with a lot sizzling and popping from the water hitting the heating element. Also confirmed the fan was working and not obstructed at all. I let the defrost run for about 30 mins (sizzling and pooping stopped about 20mins in so assumed it was done doing what it needed to do.) I manually turned the fridge back on by resetting the defrost mode (I barely had to turn it before it clicked on if that means anything), it ran for 15-20 mins before cycling off again, and back into the 5 min pattern. I also played with the thermostat knob and set to to low and then all the way on high and it clicked and the fridge turned on when on high, and back off when I turned it too low, but it doesn't seem to impact the time of the cycling. I'm not really sure what to try next and appreciate any advice. 

[Ebash45]

I couldn't figure out how to edit my last post, but wanted to add a few more things. Under problem 2 up top, I meant evaporator coil cover, not condenser but you could probably guess that. Also, forgot to mention that I tested the gasket seals around the freezer and fridge and both were good. I had some time today, so I pulled the compressor relay/capacitor/controller off and it checked out fine. Im really stumped. The only thing I keep coming back to is I don't believe the defrost setting has kicked on at all, but can't sit in front of the fridge for hours on end to verify, but again the evaporator has regular frost build up.

[Slav]

Since the evaporator is slightly and evenly covered in frost, it doesn't sound like a defrost problem.

However, the short 5-10 min compressor cycling is not normal.

Did you check the resistance of the compressor windings, and if they are shorted to ground with a regular multimeter?

It would be great if you had a clamp multimeter to check the current going to the compressor. If it's too high, the overload switch (relay) would turn the compressor off to cool down on regular basis... similar to your situation.

[Ebash45]

Thanks for the response. After further investigation, it turns out there was nothing wrong mechanically. What was happening (I think) is that we had a plastic storage container directly underneath the damper and I think the air was being pushed back into the sensor making it think it reached the right temperature thus cycling it quickly as the temperatures dropped/increased rapidly. Since I moved the bin forward temperatures have reached freezing again. Next time I will be more thorough on the human error issues before wasting anyone's time. Thanks again for taking the time to offer suggestions though!

[Slav]

Thanks for posting the update, and I'm glad that everything is fine now!