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The top edge of a French door refrigerator where the doors meet the cabinet, the hinge cover and the neat run where the door wiring passes, stainless and clean.

Kenmore refrigerator
showing SY CE

SY CE or SY CF on a 253.7031 French door is a communications failure between the electronic control board and the user interface.

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Mon–Sat, 8am–8pm

  • Communication
  • Controls and sensors
  • Source: Kenmore

Book a visit

Three short steps, about a minute.

or call (844) 681-4650

What SY CE
actually means.

SY CE or SY CF on a 253.7031 French door is a communications failure between the electronic control board and the user interface. Sears has the harness between them checked first, then the control board replaced, and the user interface only if the problem continues.

Kenmore refrigerator display · also shown as SY CF

What to do when SY CE shows on the refrigerator

Kind of codeCommunication

Two boards that stopped hearing each other — the main control and the display, or the inverter. A harness is checked before a board.

Usually leads toControls and sensors

A refrigerator cools to what it believes the temperature is, and a sensor reading wrong is obeyed perfectly.

Shows up asRefrigerator Control Panel Not Responding

Buttons do nothing, the display is blank or frozen, or settings will not hold.

MakeKenmore

A retail badge on appliances built by several different manufacturers.

SourceSears PartsDirect: Kenmore 253.7031 French door error codes (Wayback copy, Nov 2019)

Kenmore French door models whose number starts 253.7031 (built by Frigidaire); Sears lists SY CE and SY CF together.

Before you book,
in this order.

Each step comes from Kenmore's own guidance for SY CE on its refrigerators. Follow it to the end: the last card says whether this is a visit.

01

Check that the model number starts 253; SY CE and SY CF share one meaning on that chart.

02

Unplug the unit for a minute and plug it back in to see whether the panel reconnects.

03

Book a visit if the code survives the restart.

Still there?

It usually turns into controls and sensors. Book with the code and the model number.

What not to do

SY CF here is not a condenser fan. On this chart CE and CF both mean the boards are not communicating.

What you may
notice with it.

The refrigerator problems SY CE tends to arrive with. Answer these at the refrigerator before anyone is booked.

All problems

Before you call

Refrigerator Control Panel Not Responding

All 5 causes, cheapest first

It also comes with

A finger pressing an unlit, completely blank touch control panel on the front of a refrigerator door. Problem

Refrigerator Control Panel Not Responding

5 causes, cheapest first

Where SY CE usually leads

Controls and sensors.

Control board · moderate.
Book a visit What the job involves

Read these
before the visit.

Short guides that make the call quicker and the diagnosis cheaper.

All guides
What you can check yourself

Five observations that narrow a refrigerator problem down before anyone visits

 What you can check yourself

Where the model number hides, and why nothing works without it

 Error codes

All 247 codes, by make

Kenmore
refrigerators.

A retail badge on appliances built by several different manufacturers.

Kenmore refrigerator repair

More Kenmore codes

COOLING OFFEr FFF dHDoor AjarSbEr FSEr rSF dSr dSEr HSEr ISEr SS
All 51 Kenmore codes

Communication on other makes

Samsung PC ERLG ER COFrigidaire SY CEElectrolux SY CEBosch E02U-Line No CommTrue Residential Communication ErrorBertazzoni E6
All 18 codes of this kind
A French door refrigerator with both upper doors swung open and the lower freezer drawer pulled out. Kenmore builds this

French door refrigerator

Two fresh-food doors over a freezer drawer — the most common premium layout, and the one with the most to go wrong at the door line.

 A side-by-side refrigerator with a tall freezer door on the left carrying an ice and water dispenser recess. Kenmore builds this

Side-by-side refrigerator

Full-height freezer beside full-height fresh food, with the ice maker and dispenser built into the freezer door.

In Kenmore's own words

SY CE or SY CF Communications failure between the electronic control board and user interface
Sears PartsDirect: Kenmore 253.7031 French door error codes (Wayback copy, Nov 2019) Kenmore 253.7034 / 7044 French door use & care guide (archive.org copy)

Every code on this site is taken from the manufacturer's documentation, never from a forum or a parts listing. Kenmore French door models whose number starts 253.7031 (built by Frigidaire); Sears lists SY CE and SY CF together.

Kenmore SY CE refrigerator repair,
where we come out.

The same visit in every metro below: the code, the model number, and a diagnosis before any part is ordered.

All service areas

Tampa BayFL · 31 areas

OrlandoFL · 30 areas

Miami / South FloridaFL · 47 areas

New York MetroNY · 75 areas

HoustonTX · 36 areas

ChicagoIL · 50 areas

Los AngelesCA · 95 areas

San DiegoCA · 31 areas

San Francisco Bay AreaCA · 74 areas

A family preparing a meal together in their kitchen
For the heart of your home.

Questions
about SY CE.

Can I clear SY CE myself?
Check that the model number starts 253; SY CE and SY CF share one meaning on that chart. If it comes back, it needs a visit.
Is SY CF on my Kenmore 253 a condenser fan problem?
No, on this chart SY CE and SY CF share one meaning. Both say the control board and the user interface are not communicating.
Will unplugging my Kenmore clear SY CE?
Unplugging for a minute gives the panel a chance to reconnect. If the code survives the restart, the harness is checked, then the control board, and the user interface last.

Back to your everyday

Still showing SY CE?

Book with the exact characters, the full model number, and whether it is still cooling — on a code, that is the whole starting point.

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