Refrigerator not cooling

by Jason
(Magnolia)

I have an admiral side by side refrigerator Model ASD2514ARW. It stopped cooling last night and was making clicking noises by the start relay. Today it is no longer making clicking noises and the fan next to the compressor has stopped running as well. What is causing this? Is it just the start relay it rattles when you shake it? I don't want to spend the money for the start relay if the compressor has gone bad. Why did the clicking stop and the fan stop running. The refrigerator still has power.. The light comes on when you open the door. Please help.





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Answer

Hi Jason,

Here is the Replacement parts in ADMIRAL ASD2514ARW Ref - SXS/I&W
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Your start relay is bad for sure however the compressor could have caused the relay to go bad. The only problem is that there is no good way to tell if the compressor was the cause for the bad relay. The best way to tell is to replace the relay. I understand what you are saying, it would be bad to spend money on the relay then it turns out to be the compressor but there is just no definitive way to tell.

If you have a meter about the only thing you can do is to make sure the compressor winding are not grounded out. Check to see if there is any continuity from any of the three terminals on the compressor to ground and if so the compressor is bad. Even if the windings are not grounded out the compressor can still cause the relay problem. Be sure to unplug the refrigerator and the wires off the compressor before attempting to make this test.

I will say that 95% of the time (or more) it is just the relay.

The reason the fan wasn’t running is because the compressor was off on the overload which cuts the fan off as well. The fan should have been coming on every so often when the compressor cooled enough for the overload to kick the compressor back on. If that wasn’t happening the overload may be bad as well.

Overloads give very little trouble but when they are cutting on and off like they do when the relay is bad sometimes they will go bad as well.


Thank you,
Shawn/administrator

Comments for Refrigerator not cooling

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More help needed
by: Jason

I ordered the parts and they came today. The overload is exactly the same as the original one, however the start relay is slightly different but still fits the compressor. The problem is the old one had a wiring harness that it fit in with 2 posts for wires one was white on the right side and two orange wires ran into the left on one post. On the new relay there is one post on the right and two posts on the left. Is there any way to get a wiring diagram so I don't fry new parts?
RE
by: shawn

I took a look at the parts breakdown and it shows one relay with the two wires at the left and the other with the two wires at the right. It seems you ordered the wrong one but I don’t know how you were supposed to know that. It is not clear on the parts breakdown which one to buy.

On some compressors it wouldn’t hurt it to switch the wires but I couldn’t tell you if yours is one or not. You would be better off getting the correct part.

There is a wiring diagram on the page with the parts if you scroll down to where it says wiring information.
more help needed
by: Jason

The part I ordered is 61005504. I'm not sure I explained my problem clearly earlier. The old relay had two posts with three wires going to it( one white from the capacitor to the right side of the relay and two orange on one post on the left, one orange wire from the capacitor, one orange wire from the power). The new relay has Three posts 2 left, 1 right and it didn't come with instructions. So my question is which relay would be the correct part to order or if this is the correct relay which posts do I hook the wires to?
I assume the white from the capacitor hooks to the right side bottom as in the original. So do I split the orange wires and put one on each post on the left or keep them together and if so which post should they hook to left top or left bottom?Thanks for all your help youv'e been great!
Same as old
by: Shawn/admin

Ok I think I did misunderstand you.

You connect the three wires up to the relay same as before only using two terminals just like the old one. Just don’t worry about the other terminal. So keep them together same as before.

Sorry for the misunderstanding I was thinking you meant something else.

I am glad you posted agian because I was trying you get you to reorder the part.
Almost there
by: Jason

Hooked up relay and pluged in. Fan and compressor started. I assume it takes 24 hours to cool both cabinets. Anything else I should be looking for or am I done? By the way, thanks again. Total cost $34.72.
RE
by: Shawn

You are done. I hope it works out for you.

Contrats on the $35 repair job!


As said before if this doesn't work you are looking at a bad compressor.
Admiral Refrigerator Model #ASD2514AR
by: Anonymous

This frig is not cooling properly. Vacuumed out coils to see if that would help. How long will it take to see improvement if that is going to help? Also, any suggestions to fix the problem. Can't afford new frig. Thank you.
RE
by: Shawn/admin

How long it takes will depend on the load. As in how much food is in the freezer and how much the door is being opened. But as a general rule you need to give a refrigerator a few hours to see if it’s going to start back cooling and 24 hours to get back to normal temperature.

There are other things it could be such as a bad fan motor, start relay, defrost problem, ect. These pages will help.

How To Repair A Refrigerator

Refrigerator Defrost Problem

Refrigerator Not Cooling

Refrigerator Not Running



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