Kitchen Large Electric Appliances - Whirlpool side by side

My fridge keeps freezing up. Upon further investigation i have found that the defrost timer is, in fact, timing out and energizing the pink wire that runs to what i believe is the defrost thermostat, which in turn sends power to the defrost element. However the element is not getting hot unless i jump the pink and brown (element hot wire) together. Does this mean that the thermostat is bad? Also, am i correct in assuming that the timer turns the element on and the thermostat turns it off when it gets warm?

By jumping, are you bypassing the defrost thermostat? I presume somehow you must be.

The defrost thermostat is a device to simply stop the defrost element from coming on, if the evaporator coils are not all that cold, even if the defrost timer is energizing that circuit.

If you already know you have power coming up to the defrost area, and you know you can get the element to work by doing whatever you are doing there with the wires, then it does sound like it is that little defrost stat that is bad. You can disconnect the two stat wres, and if it has ice against it and yet there is no continuity through those two wires, then that stat is bad. (But you must test it right then and there, in that iced state, before say you handle it a lot with warm hands or it otherwise is allowed to warm up. Or you can take it out and insert the stat into crushed ice, wait a short bit, and test it then, while it is in there.)

thank you for your response. i have already replaced the defrost thermostat and it is working fine now.
$18.10 is alot cheaper than $800-$1200 for a new fridge or even the cost of a service call. well worth the time and effort spent here!!!!!