Just bought a used Fridgidare refrigerator-freezer model #FRT18G4AWA which gets down to 0 degrees in freezer but still about 65 degrees in frig. Frozen condensation on back wall of freezer. I pulled off the cover to the cooling coils and found that the evaporator fan motor was quite corroded and frozen up. There was a good bit of other rust and corrosion on the back side of the cover. There also is rust on the wire shelving in the freezer compartment. The unit was built 6/2003 and reportedly hadn't been used much lately. The seller thought it worked but had never really used it after obtaining it in a house purchase other than as an adjunctive garage meat freezer for awhile.
Questions:
What is the liklihood that the sole fix necessary here is to replace the evaporator motor in view of the fact that it appears to be somewhat of a long standing situation what with the corrosion and all. In other words is there a good chance some other problem with the frig actually caused the fan to corrode and die. If so what would do that?
What is the liklihood that if replacing the motor is the complete fix that the rest of the unit might have been unduly stressed since it is quite possible that it had been running for a long period of time with no evaporator fan. It would likely have been running continuously since the thermostat appears to be in the frig. Or is it somewhat if it works it works. I don't know much about these things.
I am haven't had much experience with apppliances but I am fairly mechanical. My way of testing here would be to test the motor circuit as best I could as the freezer tried to cool then put in a new motor if things looked OK with the circuit. I am on good terms with the seller and trying to work out a solution but if it is going to get expensive or might be futile for the long run we are both willing to trash it and the deal.