My Hotpoint gas dryer takes about 3 hours to dry a normal load of cloths. I have cleaned all the the ducting from the lint trap all the way to the exit point of the house. The timer has two modes: Automatic cycle and Timed Cycle. When set to Automatic cycle, I get sporadic heat (sometimes hot to no heat at all) but the heat push doesn't seem to be consistent at any point on the timer dial. I may get heat initially in the cycle but not the next time at that same point in the cycle. And the at the end of the cycle - labeled "cool down" on the dial, nothing at all happens, not even the tumbler moves and the cycle ends at the start of the "cool down" period on the timer. When set to Timed cycle mode I get no heat ever (at least for the dozen or so tests I've run). I initially thought the issue was with the timer but I can't find out how to properly test it using my multimeter. Also, I'd like to view if the gas is firing up properly (check igniter, coils, sensors, etc) but I don't know how to do this if I have to take the front panel off my dryer to access these things. I'm talking about the entire front panel which includes the door. The front panel holds up the drum, so unless I'm missing something (which I'm sure I am), there is no way to run a cycle with the front panel off.
Any help you can provide would be much appreciated. Thanks.