[seaninpat]

i have replaced the defrost heater and the deforst timer -- still no heating going on -- i tested the thermostat and got no ohms -- would that be the problem?

[seaninpat]

actually it is only 3-4 years old

[mntexn]

You may have your meter setup incorrectly. It should be set to the max setting and then work your way down. On my Maytag the wiring diagram says as a check for the thermostat operation I should be reading 249K ohms (with power off). On my meter that would be at the 1M ohm setting. The setting below that is the 200K ohm setting. That would be a setting that is too low and my meter would show that it can not read the resistance in the circuit, which a person might interpert as "no ohms". But, there is no such thing as no ohms. You can have a reading between 0 zero ohms in the circuit (which is a short) and your expected value, or a reading that is so high in the mega ohms that your meter will not be able to read it which could be an open circuit.

Hope this helps.