How to Troubleshoot a Samsung Fridge Freezer That's Not Cooling

Pull the upper freezer tray forward while lifting up to lift it out of its tracks.

Lift up on the rear of the lower drawer, pull it backward, and lift the front up to clear the small front ledge.

Use a 10 mm socket to remove the two 10 mm bolts on each side of the railing.

Pull up on the freezer door to lift it off the door slides.

Remove the small plastic retention piece from the middle metal bar with your fingers.

Push the bar to the right into the sprocket housing, and pull the bar out from the left side.

Use a small Phillips screwdriver to remove the two screws on the front of the ice maker.

Pull the ice maker toward the front of the refrigerator to release it from the retention tabs.

Identify the two wire harnesses behind the ice maker.

Disconnect the front harness for the ice maker.

Use a Phillips screwdriver to remove the two Phillips screws holding the evaporator panel in place.

Pull the evaporator panel forward to release it from the housing.

Disconnect the fan wire harness so you can fully remove the evaporator panel.

Try a forced defrost (often called FD mode) to melt ice behind the evaporator panel.

If forced defrost doesn’t work, unplug the refrigerator to manually defrost the freezer.

Use a garment steamer to warm the iced area or use a box fan to move air through the cabinet to help melt and drain water.

Confirm the evaporator fan runs when the freezer door is shut and the door lights are off.

If the fan doesn’t run with the doors closed and lights off, use a multimeter to check for 12 V DC at the fan to confirm power is reaching it.

Unplug the refrigerator before disconnecting the evaporator panel and fan wire harness.

Disconnect the evaporator panel and fan wire harness to expose the evaporator-area components.

Locate the thermostat that controls temperatures in the cabinet.

Locate the thermal fuse in line with the defrost heater.

Inspect the metal catch pan at the bottom for heavy ice buildup that may need cleaning.

Set a multimeter to ohms resistance.

Find the harness where the two yellow sensor wires enter the connector.

Press the multimeter leads into the two yellow-wire terminals in the harness housing.

Replace the sensor if the reading is off by more than 10% from the expected value for the current temperature.

Press the multimeter leads into the two brown-wire terminals in the harness housing for the defrost heater circuit.

Expect a resistance reading between 40 and 80 ohms.

If the meter shows OL, no continuity, or an extremely high reading around 200 ohms or more, a component in the heater circuit may be bad.

Flush the drain hole with warm water if you see water or ice buildup around it.

Make a simple flush bottle by drilling a hole in a plastic bottle cap and fitting a cut plastic straw into the cap.

Squirt warm water into the drain hole until the obstruction clears and water flushes through.

Make sure water can flush through the system or the problem is likely to return.

Reconnect the evaporator fan wire harness before placing the evaporator panel back into position.

Press the evaporator panel into place and press all over it so the tabs seat against the housing.

Reinstall the evaporator panel screws with a Phillips screwdriver.

Reconnect the ice maker harness and the fill tube heater harness if you unplugged it.

Set the rear fingers of the ice maker into place, and thread the ice maker onto the fill tube.

Reinstall the two ice maker screws with a Phillips screwdriver.

Pull the drawer glides out and insert the metal center bar into the glide sprocket.

Move both glides fully in or fully out to confirm they are even.

Make sure the small retention tab is not installed in the metal bar during alignment.

Install the small plastic retention tab after the metal bar is seated and the gears are even.

Set the freezer door onto the glide fingers so the tabs and bolt holes line up.

Use a 10 mm socket to reinstall the two sets of 10 mm bolts on both sides of the railing.

Tighten the bolts snugly so there’s no play in the freezer door.

Reinstall the drawers the same way they were removed.

Seat the top drawer between the rails properly, and reseat the drawers if you feel friction when sliding them.

Move the refrigerator out to access the rear bottom area.

Use a Phillips screwdriver to remove six to eight screws from the rear metal panel at the bottom.

Lift the rear metal panel up to expose the compressor system area.

Inspect the condenser coil area for heavy dust buildup that can reduce cooling efficiency and increase run time.

Brush the condenser coils while a shop vacuum runs nearby to capture dust as it comes off the coils.

Check that the condenser fan runs when the refrigerator is plugged in.

If the condenser fan isn’t running, the rear can overheat and cooling capacity can drop, similar to having dirty coils.

Inspect the drain tube for clogs and remove it so you can clean the tube and its housing.

Clean drain tubes under warm, soapy water, and replace any tube that is damaged.

Make sure the tube seats into the small tray guide underneath it so it angles correctly into the drain pan.

Use a Phillips screwdriver to remove the four screws securing the PCB and inverter housing cover.

Look for the board with large capacitors and a red indicator light if your model has a separate inverter board.

If the inverter indicates low voltage to the compressor, the video suggests the inverter board may need replacement.

Reinstall the PCB and inverter housing cover.

Reinstall the rear lower metal access panel and its screws.