GE Upright freezer not staying cold
We have a 6 year old GE Upright freezer FUF17SMRD. yesterday the high temp light was going off and it was around 20degrees. We figured someone left the door cracked and reset the alarm. well a few hours later same result. Skipping forward I decided to try and figure this out, b/c the things I was reading were pointing to a bad starter relay. FYI, I'm no electrician/appliance person, just trying to DIY until I can't.
Symptoms: Not cooling, Compressor is hot, I can leave my hand on it, but it is definitely not just warm. You can hear the relay click, a slight vibration and then maybe 30 seconds later another click and no vibration.
I've done the following.
pulled off the starter relay and overload protector
I tested the overload protector by touching the probes on the 2 tabs and get around 155Ω.
I tested the starter relay by setting my meter to 200Ω, and inserted the probes into those 2 holes(which in turn is tabs 2 and 3). both measured around 157Ω, so I think that's good
I can see the terminal block on the compressor with 3 pins.
I found a image that said this and I should test Start - Run, Start - Common and Common - Run
Start
/ \
Run — Common
Common–Run = 2–6Ω in this range
Start–Common = 4–10Ω - in this range
Start–Run = 6–16Ω - in this range
Everything seems to test fine, so I don't know what could be the problem. One article I found said the compressor could be mechanically locked up?
Anyone have any ideas? Anything else I should try?
Posted Dec 6, 2025, 6:26 PM UTC