I just wanted to post here to let you all know how appreciative I am for your site. I looked over the site for the past hour or so and kept running to my refrigerator that came with my newly purchased house. I'd like to describe my problem in case anybody else has the same dilemma.

First my freezer on the Maytag MTB2456DEG was not cooling off. The refrigerator seemed to work fine. I kept shuffling the cool switch around and the freezer would turn on and cool off. Ultimately, this stopped working and neither the freezer or the refrigerator would remain cold. Power worked, and there wasn't any weird noises.

After reading your site I decided to check the defrost timer. It was at this time that I realized the lower section of the freezer was warm. The timer was stuck in the on position. Warm air was blowing across the underside of the freezer the whole time which is why the freezer went first.

BTW, with this model the defrost timer is in the refrigerator, on the "ceiling" of the inner box. There is a plastic knob in there which you can turn with a screwdriver without even taking the panel off and if the timer is going bad then turning it will fix the problem (atleast until you get your new timer). I learned all this on the site too, gotta give credit where it's due.

Without your site I probably would have spent a lot of time researching the problem without much of an idea what was going on. Thanks for all the help.

-Brad

Thanks Brad for your nice compliments.

Jake

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Ok, so I was a little to excited at what seemed like an easy fix. I bought the new defrost timer and put it in, but it only worked for a day. Now, the fan in the freezer runs continuously but nothing is cooled. I was away for a couple days and had my girlfriend switch the beer cooler in the basement over to the primary refrigerator until we can get this fixed. I'll have to search your site some more to figure out the problem.

Is it completely warm in the freezer now?

No Frost build up on the inside back of the freezer panel?

Compressor in the back is running?

Jake

__________________
Appliance Repair School 1987-1988
Star Appliance Tech. 2 yrs. 1988-1990
Wards Appliance Tech. 11 yrs. 1990-2001
Sears Appliance Tech. 4 yrs. 2001-Oct. 2005
Jake's Appliance Repair Nov. 2005-present

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Evaporator Fan Runs, Compressor Fan Runs (fan in the middle of the coil in the back), Freezer is warm and Refrigerator is warm, Compressor does not turn on. I'm thinking it's one of the relays on the compressor. Can you tell me if I can test these relays without the compressor working? Would I need a Hall Effect Clip on Ampmeter to do this? I see one black box that is attached to the side of the refrigerator by the compressor (guessing this is the startup relay) and two plastic electrical devices on the compressor itself (overload and something else maybe?).

Guy at the local appliance store tells me I probably need a new compressor, but he hasn't looked at it. I haven't read too much on this site about compressors going bad.

You would need an ohm meter to ohm out the relay for continuity, yes that black box is attached to the compressor terminal pins, it just pulls off, then you ohm it out with the refrigerator unplugged.

You can also do a voltage check on that as well, it should read 120 volts.

If that relay checks good, then your compressor is bad, and all compressors have a 5 yr. warranty on them, PARTS & LABOR.

Jake

__________________
Appliance Repair School 1987-1988
Star Appliance Tech. 2 yrs. 1988-1990
Wards Appliance Tech. 11 yrs. 1990-2001
Sears Appliance Tech. 4 yrs. 2001-Oct. 2005
Jake's Appliance Repair Nov. 2005-present

If you need more repair advice help on your appliance, click Here

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Ok, let's start over here. I went to the local appliance parts store for some more help. Black box is the run capacitor, black 4 pronged relay on the compressor itself with 2 wires attached is the overload relay...I think, white one prong with one wire attached underneath that black 4 pronged device is????

So, black 4 pronged device has no problem...but I own a new one. White one pronged had infinite resistance/no continuity and I thought it should have so I broke it open. Not sure if there is a problem with this or not....but here is the cool part. I think the wire attached to the front supplies current, heats up a coil which then pops a concave circular foil upward due to the heat and this releases a contact which should also disconnect the current. I could be totally off here, but that what it looks like to me. And by the way, tomorrow I'm going to own a new one.

I thought the problem was the defrost timer because I turned the dial on it and the refrigerator started working...but not anymore. My girlfriend thinks the refrigerator starts working when she shuffles the freezer temp selector around...but not anymore. We both think the kitchen stinks from the stinky mushrooms that we didn't clean out soon enough.

Evaporator Fan Runs, Condensor Fan Runs, Run Capacitor is good, Black 4 prong relay is good, new defrost timer is good, Condensor will not run and I'm reading about the thermostat's to figure out if they are a problem. Any help is welcome.

The Overload device.

Ok, if that white overload device piece didn't have continuity, its definitely bad.

A new one should fix it up for you.

Jake

__________________
Appliance Repair School 1987-1988
Star Appliance Tech. 2 yrs. 1988-1990
Wards Appliance Tech. 11 yrs. 1990-2001
Sears Appliance Tech. 4 yrs. 2001-Oct. 2005
Jake's Appliance Repair Nov. 2005-present

If you need more repair advice help on your appliance, click Here

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Jake, you're the man. I bought the overload relay today and it works. My frig has been running for about an hour now and it's colder then it's been in the past five days. I think the guy at the appliance store had me buy the PTL Relay just because he wanted to sell me something. I went in and asked for the overload relay...but came out with that. Oh well, I got atleast $20 worth of info out of him.

Now that it's running, what do you think makes the overload die? I don't want to keep buying overload relays if there is an underlying cause here.

Anyhow, thank you so much....I'm very appreciative for your help.

Brad

That relay is very rare to go out, keeping the condenser coil clean will help make it last longer, as most of them just go out because of excessive heat build up from the condenser and compressor. That condenser fan cools the condenser and compressor, so if the condenser coil is clean, the air flow will be good to cool properly.

Glad you got it fixed Brad!

Jake

__________________
Appliance Repair School 1987-1988
Star Appliance Tech. 2 yrs. 1988-1990
Wards Appliance Tech. 11 yrs. 1990-2001
Sears Appliance Tech. 4 yrs. 2001-Oct. 2005
Jake's Appliance Repair Nov. 2005-present

If you need more repair advice help on your appliance, click Here

Look-Up & Order Parts

Shop Home Appliances