My Kenmore dryer started getting hot where it seemed ti was too hot and finally got where it would completely shut down. After it cooled off it would start working for awhile.

I took it apart and used a voltmeter to check the thermal fuse and he thermometer. Both checked out good.

I checked the outer vent pipe and it was clear. However, there was a build up of lint all inside the dryer. The motor had lint all over it and there were large balls of lint all inside the guts of the dryer. The area underneath the lint filter had a lot of lint in it. I cleaned all of that out. I put it back together thinking that all the lint that had built up was what caused the overheating condition so I thought i had it fixed.

I turned it on, but with a load in the dryer it would barely turn. I took some of the clothes out and it would then turn but it seemed kind of slow. After running about 5 minutes I started having an intermittent hum. It will hum for about 15 seconds and then stop. I am not sure if it would overheat again as I turned it off in fear it may damage the motor (assuming it is not already damaged and has been the problem all along).

I took it back apart and the belt seems fine. The pulley system seems to be working fine and is not stiff. The ball on the back of the drum that sits in the back of the dryer seems to be fine. One other thing is the felt on the front assembly that the drum sits on came off in a small area. I glued it back on, but it is a little higher than the rest of it that did not come off.

So, any suggestions? I am thinking maybe the motor is going bad, but I would like to try to be sure before I spend the money for it.

Thanks in advance for any help.