Kitchen Large Electric Appliances - refrigerator problems

someone has turn my thermostat control knobs off and now my fridge and freezer are not doing much cooling around 45 in the fridge and 35 in the freezer. there was ice forming in top of the fridge to close off the vents but we got rid of that.the fridge is still running but its been over 24 hrs and its not getting cold in the freezer yet.now im getting worried .we havent been havent any problems at all. any ideas would be very much appreciatted. thanks one time i had to take the freezer liner out. that was 5 yrs ago. ice built up underneath the liner. i put it back in and it was fine. this isnt acting the same though. i pulled the bottom of the freezer out and the heater is working so now i dont know what to think. i thought that was the problem. im going to let it thaw on out completely overnight. does anyone have any thoughts on what to look for now? the timer seems to be working. defrost controls?

Fan in freezer working? If so, it almost sounds like it is low in freon. Might have a small leak somewhere. Take freezer liner out again & look at coils with fridge running. All coils should have a light coating of frost on them. If some are frosted & others are not or there is a big blob of ice forming at the corner of one it might need a charge. Dave

i took the liner out and took a hair dryer to the ice buildup and got all the drain holes opened up, the heater is fine .put it back together .its fine now.gets below 0 again and the fridge is doing fine too. thanks for your input. its a pretty old unit,so i was holding my breath. i just replaced my washing machine,i didnt need this too.you know how it gos.when it rains it seems to pour. have a good year. :)