Hi..last week the fridge compartment lost it's cool, but the freezer was ok. I took the freezer plate off and it was iced up. I ohmed out the defrost heating element and it was bad, so I got a new one and replaced it. Fired up the fridge and it ran for only a few minutes then quit. I then checked the compressor overload element and the relay....both checked out. Next I took out the defrost timer. I am getting no continuity between pins 1 and 3....even when I rotate the timer 360 degrees and hear the magic "click". I think the timer is bad. But the question is...does anyone know if this would actually prevent the compressor and fan from firing up? Is it possible to momentarily jumper terminals 1 and 3 to see if this will get the fridge to fire up....or is that not a good idea? Any help appreciated. Thanks.

Thank you Simon. I think the issue is solved-on the advise of a repair guy I reinstalled the timer and sat back and had a cold beer and waited. Apparently I was too impatient and did not let the timer cycle through it's normal cycle. I got the fridge to start by manually advancing the timer. Apparently I did not advance it enough the first time to get the continuity on 1 and 3. Since last night it has cycled properly and the fridge temp is 37 degrees. For some reason I was under the impression the fridge should run continuously until it cooled down, but I guess that's not the case. It will run and then shut down and start up again depending on where the timer is at. Does that sound right? Also, I believe this will automatically go into a defrost cycle from time to time-even though it may not necessarily trigger the heating element? I couldn't find any specs on how the timer should cycle, but everything seems to be fine now.