LG French door fridge refrigerator section only too staying too warm.

[eaglei22]

Hello, I have an LG fridge: LFXS30766S /02  I purchased in 2016.  The freezer and ice maker work fine, only the refrigerator section is having an issue. I've had this issue in the past (I believe twice in the last two years), and I would clean the coils by the compressor, run and reset the fridge by running the diagnostics using the button on the main board. And also unplug from the wall. This time however after all of that the fridge will bounce around from 42 to 50 degrees. I usually set the temperature to the recommended 37F and 0F for fridge and freezer. I lowered the temp to 33F just to see, and it has been staying around 47 deg mostly. 

I started investigating a few days ago and noticed a block of ice forming between the left crisper drawer and back wall, I took out all of the drawers and shelves, and removed the back panel to look at the evaporator. The upper left side where the tubes come in also had a block of ice on it. I defrosted it with a blow dryer, and hoped this would help, which did not. I ran the diagnostics testing which showed the fans were working, and the heating element turned on and got warm. So I tried replacing the Defrost Sensor yesterday with no luck. Not too sure where to go from here. Basic research showed another possible cause could be the thermistor that is near the compressor. When I replaced the defrost sensor I thought that had the fridges temperature sensor in it as well, but now after more investigating I believe it is on the back panel of the fridge near the middle crisper between the vent and led light. Could that be an issue as well? 

I noticed when I melted the ice, once the ice started to melt off the copper pipe, that section immediately started frosting over. Would the block of ice formed over the pipe restrict the refrigerant from the compressor from flowing properly? Also the next day I pulled off the cover again, and noticed ice forming at the bottom of the first row coil fins, just the start of it, across maybe 4 or 5 fins. Looked kind of wet to ice, almost like when ice in ice trays are freezing but not completely frozen. 

I know these fridges have a well known compressor issue, but seeing how the freezer is working and the fridge is staying at least in the 40's could it still be a compressor issue?  Thank you for your time. 

 

I attached picture from the first day.

[Vance R]

7 hours ago, eaglei22 said:

Would the block of ice formed over the pipe restrict the refrigerant from the compressor from flowing properly?

Probably not.

 

7 hours ago, eaglei22 said:

Also the next day I pulled off the cover again, and noticed ice forming at the bottom of the first row coil fins, just the start of it, across maybe 4 or 5 fins. Looked kind of wet to ice, almost like when ice in ice trays are freezing but not completely frozen

Good frost is usually dry and sticky to the moist touch of a finger.  Look at the liner behind the evap especially where the solder joints were made for small black spots. The factory had issues with over fluxing the flux would splatter on the liner and evap tubing during soldering. The flux in corrosive and eats pin hole in the aluminum tubing causing leaks. 

[eaglei22]

Thanks for your response Vance. If it is a leak is it practical for me as a DIYer to recharge it and maybe add some leak stop?

I've recharged my car refrigerant in the past, but I'm guessing the fridge process is much more complex. I didn't even see a fill port when I was cleaning around the compressor area. 

[Vance R]

30 minutes ago, eaglei22 said:

maybe add some leak stop?

Have never used leak stop in a refrigerator. Not sure how it would work with the capillary tube.

[eaglei22]

It's interesting, today the fridge is back down to 37deg (fridge has been set to 33f)  and -2 for the freezer. 

[eaglei22]

Now it's down to the 33 degrees I set it too.. So not sure why it's suddenly starting to work again. 

[eaglei22]

Okay, I think I found the issue. Looks like it's leaking on one of the copper lines near the compressor. What is the typical process for fixing this?