LG Electric Dryer Starts, the Drum Stops, and Something Smells Hot

Dryer Repair
1

I have an LG DLEX5101W electric dryer that recently developed this symptom. The dryer will turn on, we set to whatever setting to dry, and press the Start button. The dryer will run for about 5 seconds and then shut off. When I say shut off, I mean that the drum stops but the lights on the display look like it should be running. There are no error codes. It also gives off an odor sometimes like something is burning. Not on fire type of thing but almost like an electrical smell. If I press Start again, the dryer just beeps at me. Still no error codes. If I turn the dryer off and back on and then press Start, sometimes it will repeat the start/drum stop sequence and sometimes it will just beep and do nothing. If I repeat the process a few times, it may run fine. It doesn’t seem to matter how long the dryer sits either. There were clothes in the dryer that had been there for at least an hour and the start/drum stop issue cropped up when I tried to dry a freshly washed load that had just finished. I had my son check the vent and hose and those were not clogged. In looking around the forum, it sounds like it may be a motor issue but I’m not sure. Any help in diagnosis would be appreciated.

EDIT: I should also mention that I can hear a click when I press the start button after the drum stops.

3

Also the reason it turns off and won’t restart right away may be due to the thermal protection of the motor.

The Purpose of a Thermal Protector
This overheating generally occurs when the motor is overloaded, when a bearing seizes up, when something locks the motor shaft and prevents it from turning, or when the motor simply fails to start properly. A failure to start may be caused by faulty start windings in the motor.

The thermal protector consists of one or more heat-sensing elements built into the motor or motor-compressor, plus an external control device. The thermal protection is present to turn the motor off when excessive heat is generated within the motor circuitry. This safety feature halts the temperature climb before it can burn up the motor.

Thermal protectors generally reset themselves once the motor cools down to a safe operating temperature.

If the windings are bad this process will repeat.