[Barbgrady]

Do i need a heating element or is there another problem?

[ApplianceJunk]

Hi,

There are a few things that can make your dryer not heat.

Voltage to the dryer (240v) if electric.
Heating element.
Thermo fuse.

[SublimeMasterJW]

To get to the heating element on most of these dryers you remove the back dust cover:

1. Hi Limit (small limit upper right hand side of this pic)

the most frequent problem if dryer RUNS but no heat.

2. Heater assembly. 7. Control thermostat(s).
If all of those items turn out to have continuity, you may have a bad timer.

Here is a burnt contact:
or a bad breaker as AJ says.

[denman]

Here are your parts
Replacement parts for WHIRLPOOL REX5634PQ0 | AppliancePartsPros.com

Here is the wiring diagram
http://www.servicematters.com/docs/w...%208528187.pdf

If you put the unit into timed dry and the timer advances you should have 240 volts as the timer on this unit uses 240 volts.

If you do not own a meter, I would suggest you purchase a one. You can get a decent digital multimeter for under $20.00. You do not need fancy though it is nice if the leads are a couple feet long.
If it saves ordering one unnecessary part it has paid for itself and you end up owning a useful tool.
Most places will not let you return electrical parts so if you order it, you own it.
A couple things to watch when measuring ohms and continuity
1. Always remove power from the machine otherwise you could blow your meter.
2. Always disconnect at least one side of any device you are checking. This eliminates the possibility of measuring an alternate/parallel circuit path.
3. When checking for closed contacts and continuity use the lowest scale (Usually 200 ohms). Then try higher scales. This scale is 0 to 200 ohms so if the device you are measuring is 300 ohms this scale would show an open circuit which it is not, you are just measuring outside the scale's dynamic range.

There is a good STICKY at the start of this forum about it's use.