Ice Machine Fan Does Not Run Properly

My family's ice maker, a Frigidaire EFIC117-SSBLACK-CU, has run an extended service of, if I have this right, at least 5 years of frosty production. Recently, however, the machine has begun to malfunction in a few ways.

The first issue to come to light was the fact that the fan that the machine had come with had stopped working. The device uses a PY-1225H12S fan for internal cooling. I replaced this fan and got the machine to work again. At least, for a while.

I somehow managed to not take the leakage of water present within the machine more seriously. The ice maker has a tube, which I measured to be 1/8 in. inner diameter, 1/4 in. outer diameter, that is used to transport water from the bottom of the machine's water reservoir up to the cooling rods, which are used to create ice, of course. The newer fan that I had installed recently stopped working properly, just two months after its installation. The first fan had shut off entirely, causing the device to overheat, and the second one jolted to attempt to spin, but could not. Spinning the fan manually as the machine was powered on would give the fan a tiny jump, but the fan would blow incredibly weakly, still permitting the system to become extremely hot, as in the case of the first fan.

Upon yet another disassembly, I discovered that the tubing was ruptured at the end which deposits water in the freezing area of the ice maker. This is what I suspect caused the first fan to die. And, I also figured that the second fan stopped working properly due to the leakage from the tubing. So, I ordered more tubing online, as well as a third replacement fan. I bought the incorrect tube size as of now, which brings me to not being able to cover that fix.

But even when wrapping paper towels around the tube where the leak occurs, and after having installed the third fan, I found that this third fan has the exact same problem as the second fan: the fan jolts and, with a start, moves a little, but not nearly enough to maintain a low temperature for the ice machine.

At this point, being a relative novice in repairs, I am stumped as to what else could be the issue, as to why the fan is not moving properly. Any help to guide me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for getting this far.

(P.S.: I would upload pictures, but I keep getting infinite loading thumbnails on the images I upload. And if I try to view the images, access is denied...)