Kitchen Large Electric Appliances - Is this Fridge dead?

I have a Whirlpool EHT-171HK in the garage (a garage in warm San Diego). It worked just fine for years. Last week it just stopped making cold. No cold period. Fan underneath runs, makes normal noise. But no cold.

At the same time I had a problem with the outlet it was plugged into, looks like ants where home building in it and may have cause a short in the circut. That's been fixed.

Is there any way to check to see if it's beyond repair?

Thanks,

Pat

My refrigerator - whirlpool, only about 6 years old, quit cooling a few weeks ago. I figured the compressor was dead, and I was going to have to replace the whole thing.

I did a web search on refrigerator troubleshooting and found a web site with really good troubleshooting instructions, including pictures - sorry I didn't save the link. Figured out that it was just overheating because the condenser coil was clogged with pet hair - yuk. This burned up the overtemp sensor on the compressor.

$30 part from the local parts place - 10 minutes to install and 45 minutes with a vacuum cleaning the coil. It's run fine for about a month.

Is the compressor actually running when turned on?