well lets see providing the freezer fan works remove the bottom of the feezer I am guessing this is a standard admiral frig with the evap in bottom and not accross the back. these fridges have a glass tube defrost heater that gets moisture in them and burns out the heater and leaves broken glass that housed the heater in evap tray if it's heavily frosted thaw it out so you can find the leads to the heater to check it with a meter. Sometimes they will be so iced up the bottom freezer panel is hard to get out....or youy can find the timer advance it in a defrost and clamp on an amp probe to the common and it should draw around 4-5 amps

again your info takes you back to evap to check frost pattern of the coil. it either has a leak, or a dfrost problem either way the coil needs inspected Even a bad timer that is staying in defrost to long, the frig has to stop running to go into defrost cycle if it isnt the coil is going to be frosted over if it stays in a defrost to long the unit wont be running a frig with a leak the coil will have a big iceball at the beging of coil and rest of it will be dry a fully charged frig will have an even layer of thin frost a heavily frosted coil will be a defrost problem or you could have an inefficisnt compressor you need to investigate it more

why would you assume its a defrost thermastat if its defrosting fine? I also gaurantee if the freezer isn't cooling properly there is no way the frig section is either since all the cooling comes from the freezer. it may appear that it is but it's impossible. Soft ice dream indicates the freezer isn't at zero which means the frig isn't at 37-39

Hey Cooler, Thanks for the reply. I did pull out & vacuum entire backside. This fridge has always ran well even tho cleaning maintenance gets neglected. Unit is ANCIENT, circa 1973. I did order a "fits most models" defrost timer for it. It is a part I found at the top on the back above the evaporator, I think it is. The condenser is at the bottom near the compressor, right ? The unit will not run at all if this defrost timer's disconnected. There doesn't seem to be many parts to replace. I figured I'd try $34 and see what happens. I know it is really time to go shopping. This is my first fridge repair in my 58 years, except for the fan switch in the freezer compartment. Thanks for the advice. charlie

Just to add another possiblity, the thermostat itself maybe about shot. Thus running constantly and not cooling properly. I wasn't able to pull up your model number, but there is a universal one.

Just a thought guys :)

Nat