We'd need to see what RD looks like by having the transmitter here. Your observation may be correct, but it may also be a bad pot.

The sticks are not "missing" a mounting screw. They only use three screws for retention.

As far as timers are concerned, you can set a switch to start a timer, stop a timer, and reset a timer. You don't have to cursor to the reset display on the timer screen. Please see page 165 of the instruction manual.