Product review (5 stars): Dryer back in business...hooray!
My Whirlpool dryer quit working and at first it looked as though the motor had gone bad as the coils were still getting hot, but the motor wasn't turning. So I pulled the old motor and checked it as demonstrated in a YouTube tutorial. It was just outside of spec, and I bought a new one but it didn't work. I'd visually inspected the motor's fuse, but when I checked it, it wasn't all melted so I assumed it was good. In retrospect, I admit I should have just checked the continuity in the first place with my trusty multimeter. But in my defense, the last time I had to replace a similar fuse on another dryer the damage was visible. I did more research and discovered that a grounded coil can pop the fuse and screw up the motor...wheee! So I pulled the coil and sure enough, one of the ceramic mounts had cracked and the coil was touching the casing.
The replacement coil I received was identical to the original, except for the fact that the mounts look a bit beefier. I replaced the coil along the thermostat and coil fuse (not to be confused with the motor fuse, which I also replaced)...I probably could have reused the original thermostat and fuse, but several sources suggested that the thermostat can be damaged by the heat of the coils when thee is no air flowing...better safe than sorry! Once I got everything installed, my dryer is working good as new.
Just FYI - the new coils will smell funny for the first load or two, but that should go away pretty quickly.