Why does my fridge clunk,,,?

The compressor is vibration mounted. That means when it runs it vibrates. Vibration mounting isolates that vibration and extends the life of the compressor. When it shuts down it may shake a little harder. That clunk can be as simple as a pipe banging against the frame, or it could be the compressor within its own housing may have worked itself loose.

Here's what I would do in this situation: Remove the panel covering the compressor and watch it. Turn the fridge on and let it run for at least 5 minutes. Then have someone shut the fridge off and watch to see if the compressor is jumping around at shut down. If so I'd look to make sure the vibration mounts are not worn or broken. If they are I'd do whatever is needed to fix that. If, on the other hand, the compressor is not jumping around I'd let the fridge stay off for five minutes then turn it on again for another five minutes. Then have someone shut the fridge off again. But this time I'd have my hands on the compressor itself. Be careful not to touch any wires please. And hopefully the compressor is not too hot to touch.

At shut down if I felt the compressor banging within the compressor housing (the black thing is the housing) then I'd suspect the compressor is in serious trouble. I'd know it's about to go. I'd start saving money for a new machine because soon the compressor will fail completely.

If neither of those tests are conclusive then I'd just live with it until it failed. Then - depending on how much money I wanted to spend I'd either have a new compressor installed (not the best idea) or buy a new fridge. The wife would love that.

Best of luck with your project.

'')

It's the compressor and that's not unusual. Couldn't begin to tell you how to go about stopping it from making that noise.