My Kenmore dryer has been working like a champ until recently it seemed to be heating intermittently. My brother came over and tested some things with his multimeter and everything seemed fine. He took off the top and front and removed the drum. Before trying anything, he tapped on the gas valve. He started it up and we observed it clicking and firing up. We had found a couple socks in there and thought that was the culprit. We put it back together and I used it a few times and heard it clicking and it would heat up. After a few dries, I would hear it clicking but at the end my stuff was cold and wet. Finally, it has stopped clicking altogether. Without wanting to take it all apart yet, I took off the front plug and looked inside while I started it. I watched for a couple minutes and it is completely dark, nothing glowing. Does this seem to indicate the flame sensor? I don't want to spend money on parts that don't fix it and I don't own an ohm meter. I've read that when you start the dryer, the flame sensor should be glowing. Since it is not, does that indicate that it is the problem?

It's a Kenmore 80 Series. I thought I read online that the flame sensor should glow when you start the dryer. Anyways, I no longer hear any click when I start it. I look inside the hole and it's pitch black.

Before I do, that. I did a little searching and found out how to bypass the thermal fuse. I disconnected the wires and taped them together. I started the dryer and watched through the hole and it started to glow and fired right up. I guess that was it?!?

Yes, that would do it but thermal fuses generally do not cause intermittent problems, they just fail. You should not run the dryer with it jumped out as it is a safety device and failed for a reason. It may have just been faulty but they usually blow due to an overheating problem which is usually caused by an air flow problem...i.e. excessive lint buildup in either the internal or external ducting. This can be a fire hazard which is why the fuse is there in the first place. There are two other safety devices in this circuit but the dryer must get increasingly hotter in order for them to operate and save the day.

Eric

Now that the dryer is heating again, I keep hearing a loud rattling, grinding kind of sound intermittently. I went down to try to hear it came from and it seems to do it when the flame kicks on. I wonder what it could be.