[BraveDave40]

I have been getting this awful smell when I use the dryer, so I decided to take off the vent and make sure it was clean. It appeared to be okay, so I hooked it backup and turned it back on. 10 minutes later the smell returned. I thought maybe something was stuck inside and gave the dryer a little rock and smoke started to come out of the outlet. The top of the dryer was EXTREMELY hot, especially towards the back right hand corner. I was surprised that the fuse didn't trip (it has it's own dedicated fusebox and breaker - the cartridge kind of fuse). I turn fusebox off and opened the outlet to find one of the wires fried. I'm going to Home Depot to replace the outlet, but I'm not sure if I should try the dryer again? Any ideas what the smell could be... one other piece of important info, the same thing happened about a year ago, and then it stopped. The dryer is about 4 years old.

Thanks!