I have a Kenmore top freezer refrigerator at my lake house. The refrigerator was bought in 2001 & has worked flawlessly.

Today I noticed that on the front left and right external sides of the enclosure are quite hot from top to bottom. The heat only extends about 2" back from the opening. The heat is continuous. The freezer is still working as ice is being made, however, ice cream is not as "frozen" as usual, and the refrigerator is running longer.

I'm guessing that the internal heaters are possibly part of the automatic defrost system and that they are staying continuously On.

Anyone have an answer(s) for this malfunction, and is there a DIY fix. I can always call Sears service.

Thanks, Tom

I forgot to post the fix for this problem.

I called Sears appliance service. When the tech arrived, I explained the problem. He immediately knew what the cause was. The condenser (compressor) cooling fan was inop. The fan is located at the bottom rear of the refrigerator. The tech explained that the OEM fan was a DC fan and that the replacement fan would be AC. Took him about 20 minutes to repair, but it was expensive.The fan cost was $51 and labor was $194 + tax. He explained that the reason the case was hot was because the high pressure freon line runs in this location to keep condensation from forming on the case. Since the freon was not being cooled adequately, it was excessively hot.

I suspect that the DC fan was "cheap" and had a short life. The fan shaft still turned freely, so I suspect the brushes failed due to wear, or the AC to DC electronics failed.

The good news is that I have an identical model refrigerator at my residence. So if this one fails, I can fix it myself.

I posted this fix hoping that the solution would help someone else.