I know this is WAY off topic for a vehicle tech forum, but it is a technical question . . . Does anyone here know anything about GE refridgerators?  We have a GE side by side refrigerator/freezer that is about 6 or 7 years old.  About 2 months ago it suddenly quit cooling . . . it was still running and sounded fine, but just quit cooling.  I pulled the back off and cleaned the coils out on the condenser and it didn't help.  I took everything out of the freezer and pulled the pannel out of the back from over the evaporator and it was a solid chunk of ice.  I thawed it out with a hair dryer and put it back together and it worked fine . . . for about 2 weeks then it happened again.  I just thawed it out again for the 4th time at about 2 week interals.  When the evaporator is not iced up, with the settings on 5 (out of 1-10) the freezer runs about 20 degrees and and refrigerator runs about 34.

I "think" it's suppose to go through a periodic cycle that heats the evaporator to keep the condensation melted off of it and that apparently isn't happening.  Anybody have a clue what might be causing this?

Thanks!!!!!  I think that just pin-pointed my problem.

I know the drain is opened (when I melt the ice, the water flows down the drain and overflows the tray under the unit), and I'm pretty sure it's not low on refrigerant (works perfectly and runs at the correct temps after manually defrosting it).  In that post, they suggested the defrost thermistor . . . I did notice that there was some type of sensor fastened to the top of the evaporator coil that had a white wire going into box under the ice maker.  The wires had a couple of dark spots on the insulation that looked like they had been hot.  The link that showed the defrost thermistor looks exactly like that sensor.

The part is $9.55 and the hardest part of installing it looks to be removing all the food from the freezer (which I've gotten a lot of practice at) . . . I'll give it a shot before I call in a professional.

I ordered a defrost thermostat and a thermistor.  Both are easy to install (the thermostat actually had a "how to" video linked to the part) and shipping was the same for either part or both parts.  I'm pretty confident that the thermistor is the problem, but for another $8.50, I'll replace the thermostat while I'm in there.  Thanks again for the link dubtech!   

Glad to hear it worked out