Maytag Compressor/Defrost Problem

**RevKaos** · December 15th, 2011, 06:56 AM

Brand: Maytag

Age: 6-10 years

A few weeks ago, my fridge (MZD2665HEB) stopped working. I noticed the dreaded buzz/click coming from the compressor area about every minute or so, but the compressor would not start. I installed a new PTC and the fridge started working again. However, I noticed that the defrost cycle occurs almost ever hour or two. This seems way too often to me.

To make matters worse, yesterday I again noticed the buzz/click sound and the compressor was once again not working and felt too hot. I unplugged the fridge to let it cool and checked the PTC that I installed a few weeks ago for continuity and the ohms on the compressor terminals. The common to start was 4.8, the common to run was 3.9, and the start to run was 8.5. After a couple of hours, I plugged the fridge back in and it started working again with no problems. However, the defrost cycle still starts about every hour or two.

I know that his unit has a adaptive defrost control board and that the defrost cycle will depend of several factors, but I can't believe that this is normal. Could the board be bad? Can a defective board cause the compressor to overheat and stop, or is my compressor about to fail? Can low refrigerant be the problem? The buzz/click still occurs at least once, sometimes twice, after the defrost cycle but the compressor does turn over.

My wife says that the refrigerator always made a buzz/click sound, but I'm not so sure. Funny how you never think about these things until there are problems. Now I'm acutely aware of the noise (or lack of noise) the fridge makes when I'm in the next room. Although the fridge is still working and hasn't failed since, I'm afraid it's just a matter of time before it fails again. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

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***rickgburton*** · December 15th, 2011, 09:39 AM

How can you tell it's going into a defrost cycle every hour? If it's because the refrigerator stops running and everything starts to defrost then you have a bad compressor my friend. That's an expensive repair and even though no one wants to replace an appliance at Christmas you might think about putting that money toward a new refrigerator.

**RevKaos** · December 15th, 2011, 12:05 PM

Correct, the compressor and evaporator fan will stop running and the defrost cycle will begin and last for about 25 minutes. Then click/buzz once, maybe twice, then the compressor will engage. It's been doing this for weeks now. The temperatures inside fridge have remained good and stable, I just don't know if I can trust it to keep a lot of $$$ worth of food. Why would it go into defrost mode so often? I thought the timer told the fridge when to defrost?

***rickgburton*** · December 15th, 2011, 01:08 PM

That's what I'm trying to tell you. It's not going into defrost. You have a bad compressor.

**RevKaos** · December 15th, 2011, 03:52 PM

Ah, I now see what you are saying. I was assuming it was going into defrost because I saw it do so a few times before, but I see now that the compressor is just quitting on me for about 20 minutes and then kicking back on. Not good. Well, I was sort of expecting this outcome when it originally gave me trouble a few weeks ago.

Last question. What about hard starts? I know and understand the troubles about these 3n1 units, but given that I have a dying fridge that is out of warranty could it possibly get me through the holidays? If so, any suggestions on what kind I need? I believe this compressor is only 1/5 hp. Thank you for all your help.

***rickgburton*** · December 15th, 2011, 06:51 PM

Nope, it's bad. The only thing a hard start will do is burn out the control.

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