Refrigerator defrost timer?

[Derek]

I'm pretty confident I've discovered that what is wrong with my refrigerator is the defrost timer. The freezer is working seemingly like usual but the refrigerator is warm. I'm fairly certain the compressor, fans, etc work. When I manually turn the defrost timer with a screw driver I can kick the normal system functions on and off. I feel like the problem is that as it recycles the timer gets stuck at some point but I'm not totally sure. The refrigerator cooling dial thermostat may also be the problem. But how for sure does one know which of these items is the faulty one? Manually being able to kick functions on by twisting the timer is misleading. It wouldn't engage the defrost fan if the fan system was "bad" so I know the fan motor is fine and likely the heater strip to defrost the coils too. Need to know the solid way to tell what is faulty between the defrost timer and defrost thermostat. Any suggestions welcome! Thanks!

 

[cloudy]

Derek, not convinced you don't have other problems but thats just a guess. Would recommend you find a schematic of your fridge...often located on the back...and try to isolate the problem a step at a time.

 

[Derek]

Thanks for the reply. I'm certainly no expert repair man. I'll see what I can figure out. Rather repair a small part than buy a new refrigerator.