freezer cold refrig not

Ok here’s the deal, having same problem as other about freezer/frig. I have learned that my heater is bad , broken on both ends, evap coils frozen solid, put halogen worklight in to defrost over night, when i plugged it back in coils got cold, then started to frost up after couple days, back to frozen, because no heater, seemed to run all the time, so I turned the defrost timer til it went off, after awhile, (didn’t time how long) came back on, so timer should be okay right? when in defrost mode I checked for power to the wires going to heater and and test light lit up. good sign for okay timer right ? haven’t tested thermo yet but read on here to do it cold for a closed curcuit. Well how do you test it , this is what I did, check cont. from where the 2 wires from thermo go into the molded 3 pin plug, 2 wires to 1 pin to the single pink wire had continuity for less than a minute, then it went away I assume cause I had it outside the freezer. well plugged it back in for 5 min. and it had no continuity this time either it wasn’t in long enough or is bad , so I going to replace thermo and heater, sound like I’m doing the right thing ?

thanks in advance, hope order parts sunday the 8th.

Arnie