13 year old broke refrigerator, fix or replace?

[BIC1]

13 year old RFG298HDRS french door, bottom freezer refrigerator. Top of the line model, paid about $2,700 for it in 2011.  Early on, think I had a circuit board replaced under warranty. Otherwise, rock solid---until now.  Came home from a two-week trip to a stinky fridge. 

No cooling. There's an unknown motor running. The set temps were flashing.  After playing around with control panel, display temps changed to current room temps. Unplugged for a while.  Seemed to reset the control panel. I gave it 24 hours, but no movement on cooling.

I did see on the back a AW2 11-PJT sticker for troubleshooting codes.  Supposed to hold down Energy Saver key with Lighting key for 8 seconds.  I get the expected beep but screen goes blank.

Can I access the troubleshooting?  Is it worth fixing?

It's currently a secondary fridge for the lower level.  It was primary at our last house.  Don't need all the bells & whistles now but $1,000 refrigerators get low ratings in Consumer Reports.  Need to move up to about $1,500 to get decent ratings. Prefer to spend about $1,000, but can do $1,500 if need be. Unless it's reasonably repairable. Don't want to spend a lot for an assessment on a 13 year old fridge. Thanks.

[GaryB82]

I would suggest having a tech visit to see if its repairable but parts might be hard to get now it maybe easier to replace depending on what is wrong and if the parts are available 

https://www.samsung.com/us/support/contact/

[realaud]

The unknown motor running is probably the circulation fan. If the fridge is not cooling, it's either the compressor or condensor, both expensive enough parts to justify replacing the fridge. Also, you don't know what kind of stress new parts would put on the old parts, which would lead to an endless cycle of repairs.

[Imprezz]

Part alone will cost you a lot. A fridge from 2011 is no where near as efficient than the new models.

[meself]

There's pro and con to get repaired or parts replaced comes down to will the fix be worth it or will it be better to get a new model I would see what you can find price and model wise near you and decide cr is a good resource

[RedOregon]

Definitely bite the bullet and get a new fridge. If you replace the bad parts on your current one, you don't know what else might go wrong and just end up spending more and more money. Best to start fresh IMHO.

[DickWheawill]

I'd be thankful it gave you 13 years of use and buy a new one. Id say repairing it, if even possible, would be throwing good money after bad.. good luck

[BIC1]

I decided to buy a new one but just curious to try out the trouble codes. Is that owner accessible or for techs only? I followed the AW2 11-PJT sticker on back for troubleshooting codes. Supposed to hold down Energy Saver key with Lighting key for 8 seconds. I get the expected beep but screen goes blank.

What's with new Samsung refrigerators? In Consumer Reports, all the top slots are filled by LG; all the bottom rated units are Samsung. Other brands are in the middle. Thanks for all the responses.

[DickWheawill]

I have an LG... 7 years of zero issues.. my son has a Samsung.. 2 ice maker replacements in 5 years.. but of course everyones experience is going to be different. My daughter's Whirlpool is 15 and chugging along