My thoughts. compressor might not pump very well, I assume it is 134a
refrigerant considering the age. this has poly oil as the lubricant.
When fridge is abused as not having condenser cleaned it can make the
oil break down which could partially plug the cap tube. It does mimic
being low on charge, adding refrigerant can make refrigerant feed
farther although you are increasing head pressure and abusing the
compressor even more. If it is low on charge the leak is probably on
the low side of the system considering it takes quite a while to loose
its charge. If this is the case the unit was probably running in a
vacuum pulling noncondensibles into the system which would cause more
problems. I would suggest calling a tech. I dont think the heaters
would stay on even if the defrost clock was stuck, there should be a
terminator of some sort that would turn them off, further more the
evaporator would freeze up if the clock did not work and you said you
had checked the fan and did not see any ice.


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hiebs
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