[jarvisclan]

I am having defrost problems and don't know much about repair. My bottom freezer 12 yr old Amana refrigerator is not cooling but freezer/icemaker work fine. I tried to clean very dirty coils underneath but very hard to reach them. I read posts and did notice slight icing on back wall of freezer. Emptied out fridge and left unplugged several hours to defrost. Worked great for a couple of days, now fridge not working again, freezer fine. Took off back panel. Fan at bottom rear works (compressor fan?). I don't see any other fan. I have read posts and deduced that I must need either a new defrost timer, defrost heater, or defrost thermostat. Fridge/freezer doors are now open and defrosting and back panel is off. I just located def. timer at front behind toe panel. Can I test the timer in this warm state if plugged back in? Also, i can see water dripping into the pans once back panel removed, but I cannot figure out how to get the drip pans out to dump them! they are behind the compressor and it doesn't look like they can be removed from the front of the fridge either--I'm stumped. thanks for your help!

Update: I plugged it back in, let it cool back down, took back panel off inside freezer section to see frosty coils, ran a manual defrost with the timer, and they did not appear to melt after 10 minutes, so, from reading other posts, I assume it is NOT the timer, but the defrost thermostat. I am ordering a defrost thermostat and will replace that in high hopes that is the only problem. This has definitely been a learning experience brought on out of financial necessity!

[2baditsamana]

Tech working on my amana mentioned how difficult that pan removal is while I was using a dry bath towel, corner by corner, and 'wadding each corner into the pan in front of evap fan (front is facing you as you're lying down on the floor pushing the towel in. 50% of towel soaked up all water created after I manually defrosted it.

[2baditsamana]

BTW- My 2006 Amana defrost doesn't work either. Warranty replacements include thermistor, thermostat and adaptive control board that is back-ordered for three weeks now. Same symptoms that you write about.