Help!

My freezer was not defrosting and my fridge was too warm, so I advanced my defrost timer to start a defrost cycle. Now my fridge is fine but my freezer is too warm--there is no frost on the coils, the ice cream has melted, and the ice-maker spits out a few cubes every few days. Also, the frame between the freezer and the fridge gets very hot. Cool air blows into the freezer, but not cold. I don't have a thermometer, so don't know how cold it's getting, but I'm guessing it's hovering around 32 degrees, since the ice cubes are glistening but not melting.

I'm assuming that at least part of the problem is the defrost timer, since the current problem only started after I tinkered with it. I had a hard time getting it to advance (I wasn't hearing it click), and think I may have done something to throw it out of whack.

As you can tell, I'm a total newbie. Should I just replace the defrost timer--and if so, how?--or are there other things I need to check first?

Thanks for your help.

Thanks. When you say to pull the back panel, do you mean the inside freezer back panel or the cabinet back? I'm not sure where the condenser fan is.

Thanks. I just cleaned the fans and coils. It looked like the fan was moving slowly, though I have nothing to compare it to. Should it be moving as quickly as a portable fan on medium or high speed (blades a blur)? This was moving like a lazy overhead fan.

Anyway, how long do I need to run the portable fan? If the freezer becomes cold with the portable fan running, does that mean the condenser fan needs replacing?

I cleaned the fan and my freezer started working again. Now, however, after a week, the freezer is once again not adequately defrosting, which was my original problem (before the freezer stopped freezing). It seemed to be doing fine for six days or so.

Should I check the defrost timer and defrost thermostat, or does this pattern suggest a different problem?