gina wrote:

I have a 1995 Frigidaire Gallery sideXside fridge.

Came home last week Monday to find my freezer thawed... stuff on the
bottom frozen, stuff on the top 1/2 dripping all over. Didn't notice
the temp of the fridge. Unloaded everything. Frozen stuff that was
salvageable went in the chest freezer, the fridge stuff went outside.
Left the doors open and the unit off for 8 hours. Cleaned it well,
nothing exciting happened.

Mom thought maybe I had accidently left the freezer door open a crack.

The unit is level left to right, but high in the front compared to the
back. I cleaned all the grates, and behind the unit. I used to have
both dials pointed straight up. Now I have the freezer turned a couple
notches colder than center, and the fridge all the way to the coldest
setting.

Sometimes it appears ok - freezer @ 0-10, fridge at 35-40. Tonight I
got home at freezer was @ 30 and fridge @50. After opening it to
check, it kicked on and now the temps look fine again. Darn thing just
isn't consistent.

I lost my dishwasher that was on an ungrounded outlet (this one is
grounded) due to a bad power surge about a month ago. I'd assuming
that the unit would not wait this long after the surge to act up.

Also - I never did re-load the freezer - this couldn't be part of it,
could it?

What a pain... if anyone has anything I can try, please help. I can't
afford a new fridge.
this is what happened to our old whirlpool refrigerator:
did the same thing, sometimes worked and sometimes not, open the door
when it is not running and lightly tap the thermostat knob... if it
starts running then you know its the contacts in the thermostat that are
not making a good contact.... ours would start up every time it was off
when lightly tapping the thermostat..... did this a few times and then
got a new thermostat for about $40 at the appliance parts store and its
been working ever since....
might be your problem?????