I am not an electrician, just a housewife with limited funds and a desire to DIY. I used the provided videos for knowing how to replace everything except the heating element which I just guessed based on other reviews and seeing how the other parts worked. Our dryer is 11 years old Whirlpool Gold HE and I have only ever cleaned the lint tray. My husband replaced the belt about five years ago and he did clean out the inside of the dryer.
Started by ordering a thermal fuse because it was stated that is often the reason for not heat. Figured I'd save a few bucks and got the cheapest shipping (won't do that again, pay the extra and get it sooner) and when it arrived about a week later I replaced the thermal fuse. Still no heat. But I did notice a lot of lint build up and spent time cleaning that out. Ordered the Heating Element, moisture sensor bar, thermal cut off kit, and dryer thermister. (Paid for faster delivery time although it wasn't truly Two Day since it was Friday when I ordered it, but package did arrive on Tuesday). When they arrived I replaced each of those not bothering to check if they were in fact defective but instead assuming they were due to lack of heat and lint build up.
The videos were extremely helpful. There's no way I could have figured out the replacement process otherwise because I'm a visual learner. I also ordered the multi tool but I could have saved myself some money by not getting it. What would have been more helpful would have been a power nut driver or 1/4" ratchet. I did have a difficult time getting some of the nuts loosened but was able to get some with a 1/4" monkey wrench and others my husband helped to take off. After much swearing and sweating I got the job finished. The actual repairs were only around five minutes each, but it took longer then that for me to keep watching the videos and wait for my husband to help with the screws I couldn't get. He was pretty proud of me doing the job mostly by myself.
After replacing the parts I started the dryer on high heat and ran it for a few seconds before I smelt a weird odor. I turned it off and googled the burning smell (like when the heat first comes in in the winter) and found it to be normal. So I ran the dryer for 15 minutes on Air Dry only. Then tried the heat cycle again and did not have any odor.
I'm still waiting for my lint duct cleaning kit to arrive and once it does I will clean the ducts thoroughly and put that on my spring and fall cleaning lists.
Definitely glad I found this site and that they provide the helpful videos. I suppose I might have saved a few bucks by testing each part first and then only ordering and using the ones I needed, but having been without a dryer for almost two weeks I wasn't wasting anymore time.