Hi there - I have a fridge involved in the recall (the one with the top freezer. It's about 8 years old) and the repair has been done already. It seemed to be working fine after the repair (about 3 or 4 months ago). But... I accidentally left the door of the refrigerator open an inch or so overnight (oops:o), and now it just doesn't seem to be working properly. Afterwards, I turned the cooling up two numbers (it was set at 6, I turned it up to 8), and that evening woke to a huge puddle on the floor. It seemed to be coming from the freezer (there was condensation in the freezer and the water was dripping on the floor) so I turned the refrigerator back to 6 thinking that maybe I had turned it up too high too fast. So since then I have tried making it colder very slowly (one half level one day - one half level the next day) but it's still VERY warm (plus it's making WEIRD noises that it did not make before when the motor comes on. LOUD noises! And the freezer sounds like Darth Vadar!). Is this just because of the door being ajar, or could it be related to the problem with the recall? Should I call Maytag directly? Should I just NOT tell them about the door being ajar at all? Any help is appreciated... thanks...

Call Maytag ans tell them exactly what you told us. It may have nothing to do with you leaving the door open either.

OK, before you do anything. Defrost the freezer for a little longer than you would normally.

Two things come to mind:

1. You have way too much ice and the drain to the pan under the fridge is frozen over. That's why you have the puddle.

2. The compressor has run much longer than it's designed to do and you could have a major failure.

Problem #1 must be taken care of first. Empty everything and put in a cool place. Use a fan aimed at the ice to melt it. A fan about 10" diameter works fine. Hot water in a pan can help too, but the fan works best.

Idealy the drain should be checked for blockages. That might not be easy.

A diagram for your fridge might be available at Parts & Accessories | Shop & Find Lawn & Garden, Appliance Parts at Sears PartsDirect | SearsPartsDirect.com (http://www.searspartsdirect.com)

OK, before you do anything. Defrost the freezer for a little longer than you would normally.

Two things come to mind:

1. You have way too much ice and the drain to the pan under the fridge is frozen over. That's why you have the puddle.

2. The compressor has run much longer than it's designed to do and you could have a major failure.

Problem #1 must be taken care of first. Empty everything and put in a cool place. Use a fan aimed at the ice to melt it. A fan about 10" diameter works fine. Hot water in a pan can help too, but the fan works best.

Idealy the drain should be checked for blockages. That might not be easy.

A diagram for your fridge might be available at Parts & Accessories | Shop & Find Lawn & Garden, Appliance Parts at Sears PartsDirect | SearsPartsDirect.com (http://www.searspartsdirect.com)

I like your answer. I too have maytag problems. My side by side airways ice up every other month. I unplug it for 12 hours or so and then I plug it back in and that seems to solve the problem. My problem is that it happens for no known reason. When the repairman would come out he would deice the airways with a hair dryer.
Any help would be appreciated in finding out why my fridge does this?

Thanks,
Cfrank

OK, before you do anything. Defrost the freezer for a little longer than you would normally.

Two things come to mind:

1. You have way too much ice and the drain to the pan under the fridge is frozen over. That's why you have the puddle.

2. The compressor has run much longer than it's designed to do and you could have a major failure.

Problem #1 must be taken care of first. Empty everything and put in a cool place. Use a fan aimed at the ice to melt it. A fan about 10" diameter works fine. Hot water in a pan can help too, but the fan works best.

Idealy the drain should be checked for blockages. That might not be easy.

A diagram for your fridge might be available at Parts & Accessories | Shop & Find Lawn & Garden, Appliance Parts at Sears PartsDirect | SearsPartsDirect.com (http://www.searspartsdirect.com)

1. I'm not sure I understand this one - this is only an EIGHT year old fridge - there IS no ice in the freezer (it's frost free). I don't think they even MAKE fridges like that anymore, do they? There's nothing to defrost up there... no ice...

2. I understand if it's the compressor, yes (it worked too hard trying to cool it down and burnt itself out maybe). I spoke to someone who works with refrigerators (a bartender - LOL) and he said it could be that. I was mostly wondering if I should well... fudge the facts here about the door being left ajar because with the recall, maybe I could just get a new fridge, you know?

What I'm saying is that running the compressor a long time can freeze the drain line. If it's frozen because of continuous running of the compressor then the frost free mechanism cannot clear it.

You need to make sure the drain is free.

1. I'm not sure I understand this one - this is only an EIGHT year old fridge - there IS no ice in the freezer (it's frost free). I don't think they even MAKE fridges like that anymore, do they? There's nothing to defrost up there..... no ice.....

2. I understand if it's the compressor, yes (it worked too hard trying to cool it down and burnt itself out maybe). I spoke to someone who works with refrigerators (a bartender - LOL) and he said it could be that. I was mostly wondering if I should well...... fudge the facts here about the door being left ajar because with the recall, maybe I could just get a new fridge, you know?

Turn your fridge completely off and open the doors. This will thaw out all the cold air passages. Leave off for at least 12 hours. Then turn it back on and it will now work properly. When you left the door open it iced up all the returns. The recall was for fire hazards and not for the refrigerator operation. With the returns blocked the air cannot circulate to bring your fridge up to temp thus the motor sound will increase with no cooling.
Try this,
CFrank

Turn your fridge completely off and open the doors. This will thaw out all the cold air passages. Leave off for at least 12 hours. Then turn it back on and it will now work properly. When you left the door open it iced up all the returns. The recall was for fire hazards and not for the refrigerator operation. With the returns blocked the air cannot circulate to bring your fridge up to temp thus the motor sound will increase with no cooling.
Try this,
CFrank

Hi Frank - I actually read this same advice the other day (on another website) so I just tried it! Turned the fridge off yesterday and back on this morning. Boy, the water that ended up dripping out was incredible (soaked a couple of large bath towels). The freezer seems to be totally back to normal already (it's already cold enough to make ice cubes) but the fridge just doesn't seem to be getting cold at ALL yet and it's been back on for at least six hours now. If it doesn't seem to be any cooler by tomorrow, I'll call Maytag I guess... thanks!!

UPDATE: It literally took about two weeks (and I had to slowly, slowly, SLOWLY, turn to controls every day) but the refrigerator seems to have gotten back to a normal temperature. The thermometer in there says it's at about 5 degrees which is nice and cold (but not TOO cold). Thanks for your help everybody! Turning it off was the solution! Sorry Maytag Repairman, you're still lonely!