The compressor and circulation fan in the freezer compartment will turn off during defrost cycles. Defrost is, of course, controlled by the defrost timer on whatever is the operational cycle of it. It may be every 12 or 24 hrs around the clock. It may be after X-hrs of accumulated compressor run time. Defrost typically is terminated when A) a thermostat on the evaporator coil triggers upon registering a temperature that indicates the accumulated frost has cleared or B) the maximum allowed defrost time is reached and the timer ends it. Maximum allowed time varies depending on the design of the defrost timer.

The oddness is that you're registering the air temperature in the freezer compartment rising to 60°F - 65°F. That isn't normal as it would result in potential thawing of frozen foods. The defrost heat should be substantially contained behind the back panel of the freezer compartment, where the evaporator coil is located. Where in the freezer compartment are you placing your thermometer?

@dadoes, thanks for the comment. The thermometer is on the top shelf in front of the blower.

That's more likely to give a false reading during defrost being that 1) it's near (or touching?) the rear panel (behind which the defrost heat is concentrated) and 2) it's near maximum height of the compartment (heat rises).

Is there any deterioration of your frozen items, objectional or problematic softening of the ice cream bars? More food items in the compartment will help moderate the temperature swing during defrost.

@dadoes - OK, will move the thermometer and have it sit on the bottom. Also, this is our secondary fridge and since it's we've had the swings, we moved most of the stuff out. We will put more stuff back in and see if there are less swings. We have not noticed deterioration of frozen items but mostly because there hasn't been much in there. Will try your suggestions to see if there is less fluctuation.

When all this started, I could have bet money it was a faulty defrost timer but getting a new one actually made it worse.

Perhaps investigate the defrost thermostat. It may not be triggering to end the defrost cycle at the correct temperature and thus causing the defrost period to run for the entire allowed time and reach a too-high temperature behind the panel, which accordingly raises the overall compartment temp. If I am correctly interpreting the L64-41F labeling on a picture of the replacement part, it triggers at 64°F to terminate the defrost cycle, and resets when the temp drops to 23°F (64 - 41 = 23) so the heater will operate when the timer triggers for the next cycle. Make note of where the thermostat is located to reattach (or mount a replacement) at the same spot for proper operation.

Wow, did a little research and I think you may be right! The defrost thermostat on my fridge is WR50X10071. And it says L64-30F. So at 64 it should terminate the defrost cycle? And resets at 34F (64-30)? Is that correct? Does this mean that 64 is "normal"? Or do you think the defrost thermostat is faulty?

Simplest way to check if your food is at risk, make some ice (any shape will do), put it in a container of a different shape, and toss them in the freezer. They should stay their original shape. This is also great for checking after a power outage. Sublimation is fine (ice in a frost-free freezer will sublimate); you're looking for a shape change that comes from melting, not just slowly shrinking ice.

Well, it has been almost 3 weeks and we are having issues with this same refrigerator. This time it is the refrigerator and not the freezer. The freezer has been keeping a steady temperature of 0 for the past couple of weeks.

However, a few days ago, the fridge is now consistently 50 and turning the temperature to the coldest doesn't bring it down below 50.

To recap, we have replaced the Temperature Control and Condenser Fan Motor. Does anyone have any ideas what else needs replacing so the refrigerator temperature will come down?

@dadoes - any ideas?

Damper (the thing that releases cold air from the freezer into the fridge) and evaporator fan motor would be the next thing on my list. The other possibility would be the thermister ... it's the actual sensor rather than the temperature controller.

Have you confirmed the defrost process is actually working correctly? The heater does work? A reasonably common cause of a simple top-freezer unit maintaining temperature in the freezer section but not the fresh food section is failure to defrost. The evaporator coil is IN the freezer section so it maintains temperature ... but the fresh food section depends on airflow from the freezer section, which is obstructed if the evaporator coil is clogged with frost. Or if the fan in the freezer isn't working.

There is no (electronic) thermistor on this model, the thermostat is old-style mechanical. The air damper, which directs the airflow between the freezer and fresh food sections, is not an electric or electronic device that would fail.

@dadoes - forgot to mention in this original post that last year we changed the Evaporator Fan Motor (WR60X10141), Lid Bumper (WR02X10540) and Evaporator Fan Blade (WR60X10204) because it was noisy. These were in the freezer section behind the evaporator cover. During this process, we accidentally broke the Foam Air Duct (WR02X20092) and now a portion is broken off. Do you think this could be the cause and we just need to replace this?

Otherwise, how should we confirm the defrost process is working? Remove the evaporator cover and make sure the coil is not frosted? I guess if there is an issue with the coil, this is not something we can replace ourselves. So far we've spent around $85 on parts but still cheaper than bringing in the GE repair guy.

Thanks for all your help!

The broken air duct may be causing the temperature problem. Parts diagrams and the user manual I find online for the model references only one temperature control for both the freezer and fresh food compartments, which is the thermostat located in the fresh food section. There is no separate adjustment for the freezer temp. The physical design/shape of the air duct directs sufficient airflow into the fresh food section to maintain a temperature balance with the freezer section. The characteristics of the damage on the air duct may result in it not directing enough airflow into the fresh food section.

Removing the rear panel inside the freezer (which presumably is required to replace the air duct?) would reveal if there is heavy/obstructive frost or ice on the evaporator coil that isn't clearing via the defrost cycles.

@dadoes - OK, makes sense. Will order the Foam Air Duct for replacement. For some reason, this is made of cheap styrofoam and literally fell apart in our hands. While we have the panel open, we can check to see if there is frost/ice on the evaporator coil.

Question - if you look at this photo, when I put my hand on the bottom vent (bottom arrow), I feel air. When I put my hand on the top vent (top arrow), I cannot feel the air. Does this mean there may be something wrong with the evaporator fan?

Thank you!

The lower grills I believe are the intake, which pulls air in and upward over the surface of the evaporator coil. The upper center grill (the fan is up-top there behind the panel?) should be the output, with some of the airflow diverted downward through the center housing to the fresh food section. You mention that you replaced the evaporator fan blade and motor. The fan blade presumably presses onto the motor shaft. You might investigate if perhaps it's mounted in reverse such that it rotates the wrong direction for properly blowing the air. If that's case, flip the fan blade to see if that substantially fixes the problem without needing to replace the air duct. Or flip the blade and also replace the duct if the damage to it is also having a detrimental effect on airflow into the fresh food section.

@dadoes - if I remember correctly, there was only one way to do the fan blade but we can remove the panel and investigate further. THANK YOU so much!!

@dadoes - we unplugged the fridge, removed the plastic Air Duct (WR17X11891) so we could see the Evaporator Fan Blade (WR60X10204). Then we plugged it back and we could see the fan was not moving. I think this proves that there is something wrong with the Evaporator Fan Motor (WR60X31522) and we need to get a new one. Funny thing is that we had replaced this last November and it already gave out.

We also removed the Evaporator Cover Panel to look at the coil. There was frost on the top portion of the coil which I think further proves that the Evaporator Fan Motor is not turning the Fan Blade which is the root of the issue.

Ordered a new Evaporator Fan Motor which should be coming in a few days. For now we aren't going to replace the Styrofoam Air Duct (WR02X20092) because upon visual inspection, it looks like air is moving to fresh food section and there is no obstruction.

Hopefully this all works - will update next week. @dadoes again THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

@dadoes - the evaporator fan came in and we replaced it last night. So far so good. Temps in the freezer and fresh food section are as expected. We did order the styrofoam air duct and it is on back order so we will replace that as well. Ordered the evaporator fan thru amazon and it was cheaper ($20) vs the OEM $70 one. Hopefully it lasts more than a year. Thank you so much for your help! I really appreciate it.