Whirlpool LER4634EQ2 electric dryer,makes humming noise when door closes, heating element gets really hot, but start button doesn't move drum, heating element shuts itself off

The door switch may not be making contact. All dryers also have a High Limit thermostat that shuts down the dryer when too hot. The high limit thermostat should reset when the dryer is cooled off but may be defective. If the dryer is electric, 110 volts run the drum motor, and the other leg of the 220 line is for the heating element.

relay switch to the heating element may be bad

Try this, open the dryer door and hold down the door light switch. Turn on the dryer and press start.When you hear the motor humming, turn the drum clockwise with your hand to see if it will turn. If itruns, you have a bad motor and will need to be replaced. If it doesn't turn, something is jammedinside and you will need to disassemble the unit to find the jam.
Hope this helps.

Check to see if the electrical coils are glowing or not...... they are located right behind the cloths drum. (sounds as though they are NOT heating up) In order to see these coils...... first, remove all the cloths from the drum. second, while the dryers door is open 7 the drum is empty look all the way to the rear or the metal drum, it has a flat back in which you will notice there are quite a few holes. During the next step you will want to watch these holes as we check to see if the heating coils are lighting up (they will glow like the heating element in your oven... or burners on your stove top as they get hot.... ORANGE IN COLOR IS WHAT YOU WANT TO SEE) Now.... with the dryer drum empty & the door OPEN..... you will find a small pushbutton located somewhere around the outide of the drum opening thats activated (pushed in when you cose the door), depress this little button and hold it IN (this is tricking the dryer into thinking the door is closed... but its not, your holding the button NOT the door.... luckly the dryer isn't smart enough to know this) You must continue to hold the button in till the test is over.... if you let go it will IMMEDIATELLY STOP the dryer! Now, push the start button located on the console like you normally would do so during normal operation (it is recommended that the temperature be set to the HIGHEST SETTING during this test). As the dryer starts and the drum turns.... watch those holes located in the back of the drum! It takes a minute for the coils to get hot enough to glow so give it a few minutes before giving up..... after 3 minutes an ORANGE GLOW should appear through those little holes. The glow you see is the coils getting hot like the element in your oven. If after 3 minutes..... NO ORANGE GLOW can be seen through any of these holes..... the heating element needs to be replaced (this is a common problem & is usually inexpensive to replace..... $15 - $20) Replacement heating elements are available at most appliance stores..... remember to write down the manufacturers name, the dryers model number, and serial # prior to going to the store for a replacement. You MUST provide this information to the dealer for proper replacement parts! Once you've got the new heating element (it will look similar to a really long spring) you'll be Up & Running in No time!!!!) Just follow the instructions which are usually provided by the manfacturer to properly replace the broken element! Hope this helps...... GOOD LUCK!!!!!

thermal overload on motor tripping

open the door and hold in the safety off switch, turn on dryer and turn drum by hand. If it tried to move..you may need to replace the belt. If it doesn't move by it's self, then you may need a new motor.

So,. basically your drum doesnt turn. SO your getting heat still even though the drum isnt turning. Is this right? Sounds strange??? Do you hear any humming noise when you push the start button? I need to know a little more about the problem because im kinda confused as how you decribed the problem. Iv never seen a dryer heat but the drum not spinning. especially your model dryer. Its electric heat right? because if the drum doesnt spin, maybe your motor is bad. and if your motor is bad, then your heating element wont heat up because the centrifical switch in the motor is not switching to complete the circuit to the heating element. So this is why im confused when you said" Dryer heats when knob turned but when "push button" pressed, drum doesnt run." Because your belt wraps around the motor pully and the motor is what makes the drum turn. Like i said, i never seen this model dryer heat with out the motor operating. So if you can give me some more info, ill do my best to help you out....Thanks!!!!

Since you stated that the heating element is heating up I believe it rules out the thermal switches.
When you push the start button does it make the motor make any noise? Maybe hear the motor humming? Two things to check for are Broken Belt or Bad Motor:
This requires common sense and since you are going to be bypassing the safety features you need be CAREFUL.

First, with door open, manually press in door switch to by-pass door safety, then press "start", try to manually start the dryer by spinning the drum by hand, If you hear the motor humming but it does not start spinning on it's own; most likely it is a broken belt which can be changed without much difficulty for less than $15 bucks. NOW if it then continues to spin on it's own GET YOUR HAND OUT OF THERE and close the door; you have a bad motor and even though it started it needs to be replaced. A motor for that is available for just under $100 bucks and is not to bad to replace, I would recommend replacing the belt at the same time since you will be in there. Good Luck!

if the motor buzzes when you push start then it is a bad motor.as long as the drum turns freely by hand.

ctwoods, this sounds like the heating element has shorted to the heater can. What that is doing is leaving the element at 1/2 power on all the time. If this happened, then the heat kept going up until it blew the thermal fuse which caused the motor not to run. So check the heater and any fuses in the dryer. You can go to Service Matters for Whirlpool Service Manuals on this model.