[friskyweasel]

thanks everyone for the great advice - i would have had NO idea what to try next were if not for you guys -

thanks especially to you AmpDraw, for the detailed and specific replies to all my issues

it might be a while before i venture into the "de-linting" process, but i will post back with my results / findings

thanks again!

[AmpDraw]

Good luck, its a very common problem so don't feel bad that you had your first call back after thinking you had the problem solved. It's not like you didn't fix it right the first time, there was just other things wrong with it in addition to what you immediately found wrong, happens all the time even to the best of us.

Its interesting though that your thermal fuse never did blow, almost tells me your blockage or problem is likely somewhere between the element and the thermal fuse so put a lot of focus in that area.