Miele Premier 500 (W504) not heating water?

Hi,
I purchased a Miele Premier 500 washine machine (used) about 3 months ago from a repair man who replaced the heating element. Up until last week it was ok until it started tripping the fuse. When I tried it again the drum was turning and after a couple of mins I noticed smoke coming out of the drum and a smell of electrical burning. The guy who sold it to me said it must be the heating element. I've taken it apart and could not find any burning or pitting on the element. I put it back together and now it's not shorting out the fuse but the Main Wash light keeps flashing (it seems to go through the wash cycle) but does not heat the water.
I also noticed (before this hapenend) that the wash cycles were taking longer than what the manual stated.
I am a little nervous about spending money on a new element if there could be something else wrong. Why would the element go after 3 months? Could it be the NTC sensor? or something on the board itself? I am going to get hold of a multimeter to test the components but I'm not an electrician and don't really know what to do or how to tell if a component is faulty.
Does anyone know what could be causing this ? or can anyone advise on what steps I should take to test?
Many thanks