Intermittent Fridge issue.

Smalls74 · Apr 12, 2023

Good evening all,

Sorry to start yet another fridge topic! However I’m struggling to find an answer to my issue.

2012 California SE.
75.000 miles.
Batteries show 12.8v when 100% charged.

I can switch on my fridge and it will sometimes work for a few days without issue. Other times it switches itself off and I get the dreaded flashing snowflake symbol. Fault code 3010 shown in the control panel. This refers to ‘Short circuit input icebox’ “actual temperature”.

If i reset the control panel the fridge starts working again. Sometimes this can be for an hour, sometimes days.

The intermittent fault occurs in all situations, both using the leisure batteries and on EHU, and it doesn’t matter if I’m stationary on on the move.

I popped into Penguin Refrigeration today as I was passsing by. (I don’t live local, but was on a road trip) They had a quick look and said it was possibly the thermostat or control panel. They recommended having a separate thermostat fitted inside the fridge. This would use small amount of space but would bypass the VW unit and the control panel. There be a temperature selector in the fridge that I would use to choose the temp I wanted. They said it would involve drilling a small hole in the fridge to fix the thermostat in place. Or it might be for the wires. I can’t remember exactly why.

I’m a bit dubious about having a separate thermostat inside the fridge but if it works then maybe its the way to go?

I’ve already had the roof converted to a manual one because of the shoddy VW electrics letting me down.

My question is, is there anything straightforward I can have a go at before resorting to having a separate thermostat fitted?

I’m pretty useless at DIY and even worse when it comes to electrics!‍

Thanks in advance for any help/guidance you can give.

The van is booked in for Friday morning with Penguin so I haven’t got long to decide what to do.

All the best,

Smalls.

Smalls74 · May 13, 2023

So I thought I’d update this thread and close it off as it might be of use to someone in the future.

I contacted the forum member Welshgas direct and sought some advice from him, what with his wealth of knowledge on all things Cali.

As stated above I was a bit dubious about having a separate thermostat fitted as I‘m keen to keep the van as original as I can.

First off I tried to identify if it was a loose wire. I set the fridge running at max temp and kept the lid open. I could hear the compressor running trying to cool the fridge. Whilst this was running I wiggled the wires attached to the controller unit. I heard the compressor cut out and restart a couple of times as I moved the wires about. After a couple of seconds of going on and off it failed to start up again and I had the flashing fridge symbol return. This made me think it was down to a loose wire/poor connection.

I disconnected the two leisure batteries and then removed the connections from the control unit. I only managed to remove one of the connectors but this was the one I thought was causing the short circuit. I ensured the connectors were clean and reseated them. Reconnected both leisure batteries and fired up the fridge. Touch wood everything has been working perfectly since. So either I had a loose connection that I have inadvertently fixed, or the control panel needed a hard reset/shutdown by disconnecting the batteries. Either way it appears the issue has been rectified.

I still attended Penguin refrigeration on the Friday and spoke to Seb. He was fantastic. He explained that the thermostat in the fridge either works or it doesn’t, due to the nature of the its construction. He said it was like a switch, either on or off. It wouldn’t be intermittent. (Which was the fault I was experiencing) He agreed that it’s best to keep the van as original as possible. He also agreed that it was probably a poor connection that I’d inadvertently rectified.

He did say that if I needed to replace the thermostat one option would be to remove the plastic cover in the fridge, pull the thermostat sensor out, cut it and solder on the new one. That would prevent the need to remove the fridge. However it is dependant upon how much slack there is on the thermostat wire, which you wouldn’t know until you’d removed the plastic cover and pulled it out. I’d not thought of doing it this way though and its handy to know for the future.

Anyway, I thought id update the thread with the result as I know how annoying it is to find a thread that relates to your current issue and not to find out how it was remedied.

Thanks to Welshgas and the staff at Penguin for their help.

All the best,

Smalls