A guy in Boise taught me to check the door gasket before touching the compressor
I was on a fridge call in Boise two weeks ago, ready to order a $220 compressor because the thing would not cool. The homeowner's neighbor, a retired tech, watched me for a minute and said to run my hand around the door gasket first. Sure enough, the gasket was torn on the hinge side, warm air was pouring in, and the compressor was fine. I swapped a $35 gasket and the fridge hit temp in 90 minutes. Now I check the door seal on every single no-cool call before I even pull the back panel, and I have not sold a compressor since. How many of you have caught a job with a part that cheap after almost quoting something big?
Did you see that thread last month where a guy found a mouse chewed through the wire right at the door hinge? Cheapest fix ever and he almost swapped the whole unit too. I always peek at the seal now before I even grab my gauges, takes two seconds and saves a lot of grief.