Before I ordered replacement parts, I defrosted fridge?freezer and checked heating element. Hooked fridge up and it worked well for several days, until it iced up again. The freezer circulation fan worked fine. This confirmed my suspicion of a bad heating element. I decided to replace the heating element and while I was at it, replace the thermostat also. Ordered the parts with expedited delivery and received it three days later. Defrosted the refrigerator again and proceeded to replace the parts. Replacing the heating element was easy since it was a replacement of the entire bracket and element and not just the element. The thermostat was a little harder to get it due to space restriction. It is tight in there, but managed to get the wiring connected. Hooked everything back up and the 12-year old refrigerator is now working fine.