My dryer had been working fine for years until 2 months ago, when the hi limit thermostat burned up a little (chalky plastic and a little smell) . I replaced it and the thermal cutoff with a cheap kit off Amazon that was supposedly a matching replacement for oem.

When I did that, I cleaned out the dryer blower housing of lint and cleaned the duct.

A few days ago,the thermal cutoff blew. I checked and the duct is clear. The heating element has 13.5 ohms resistance, which is not in spec (spec is 7.8-11.8, off the circuit diagram) and is not shorted.

I'm wondering:
Could it just be that the cheap kit off Amazon had lousy tolerances and blew for no reason, and if not, would the slightly out of spec element have anything to do with the cutoff blowing? Otherwise, any ideas? I hate to just replace parts without knowing why.


Circuit diagram is here:
https://imgur.com/a/2WyJL9K

Thanks for the help in advance, Robert