How to Replace a Frigidaire Oven Bake Element

The bake element is the heavy looped rod across the oven floor that does most of your cooking heat. It draws high current on 240V, and after enough cycles a spot burns through, breaking the loop. Sometimes you can see the failure as a blister or a bright arc mark; other times the element simply reads open on a meter. Either way it is a bolt-in part with no calibration, so the repair is refreshingly direct.

A useful sanity check before you order anything: if the oven still broils normally from the top element but will not bake from the bottom, that split symptom almost always means the bake element alone has failed. A control or wiring fault would usually knock out both, so a healthy broil pointing at a dead bake is your green light to treat this as a simple element swap rather than the start of a deeper electrical hunt.

Tools and parts#

Keep a Phillips #2 screwdriver, a 1/4" nut driver for some models, a multimeter for testing, and work gloves — the element edges can be sharp. For the part, order a Frigidaire bake element that matches your oven; ratings run in the 2500-3500W range and common part numbers include 316075104 and 318255006, so match by model.

Safety#

Turn off the circuit breaker for the range (240V double-pole breaker). Allow the oven to cool completely if recently used. The bake element carries 240V during operation. Even after turning off the breaker, verify power is off by attempting to turn on the oven light or setting the clock — no response confirms power is off.

Replace the element#

1. Turn off power and cool the oven. Trip the range's double-pole breaker and confirm the oven is dead using the light or clock test above; work only once the cavity is cool.
2. Remove the bake element mounting screws. Take out the two screws that hold the element bracket to the rear cavity wall.
3. Pull the element forward and disconnect. Ease the element toward you a few inches to expose the two wires behind the wall, then pull each spade terminal off — grip the connector, not the wire, and note that the wires may try to slip back through the holes, so hold them.
4. Test the old element (optional confirmation). Meter the element across its terminals; an open reading (no continuity) confirms the burnout. A visible break or blister is proof enough on its own.
5. Install the new element. Attach both wires to the new element's terminals, then guide it back into the cavity and start the mounting screws by hand before tightening.
6. Verify proper element position. Make sure the element sits level and its wires are not pinched behind the rear wall, which could short against the cavity.
7. Test the new element. Restore power, set a bake call, and watch the element glow evenly orange across its full length within a few minutes; even glow confirms a good install.

When to call a pro#

If a new element does not glow, the fault is upstream — a control relay, the F30 or F31 sensor circuit, or the wiring — and is worth a technician's meter. Any charred or melted terminal at the element block should be repaired before a new element goes in, since a bad connection will burn out the replacement too.

Need professional help?#

• stove repair service
• Frigidaire appliance repair
• stove repair cost guide