How to Troubleshoot & Replace Ge AP2031031 / WB44X200 Oven Bake Element

Removed, ordered, replaced. 

Took out the old one and replaced it with a new one. 

Part of replacing the element is to make sure that the wires that attach to the element do not retract back into the housing of the oven when they are detached from the element. If this happens you have to remove the oven to push the wires back into the oven compartment. Here is a helpful way to prevent the wires from retracting. After the screws holding the element are removed and the wires are pulled into the oven, take a tie wrap (like you use to fasten plastic bags at market) and attach it to each of the wires before you detach the wires from the element. That will prevent the wires from retracting. Of course you should remove the tie wraps after attaching the wires to the new element. 

Took the old one out and ordered another replacement from AppliancePartsPros.com. The part was shipped extremely fast and the part was correct. 

Purchased a replacement coil for my original 1983 model built in oven. It came with a set of alternate screws to attach to the power leads but of course I did not that It notice that until after I tried for 30 minutes to get the originals back on. When I found the small clear bag with the other size screws, I removed the old ones and the new ones went on like a dream. New life to my 34 year old unit!! Thanks appliancepartspros.com 

Order a new element which came in just 2 days. 

I ordered a replacement element. The part arrived and was simple to replace. The plate was a little smaller than the original and needed to be adjusted slightly. Now the stove works like new. Do take note that you need to be careful about the wires retracting into the wall. The video is extremely helpful. 

The heating element is fastened in place with two hex head screws. Removing those screws frees the heating element exposing the wires held in place by another set of screws. Based on the alert contained in the instructive video I used a pair of small vice grips to hold the wires so they would not fall back into the wall while I switched the wires from the old element to the new element. In this instance, the vice grips were probably overkill because there was wall insulation surrounding the wires, but I wanted to be sure. In any event the repair was painless and saved the time, trouble and expense of having a service call to my house. The service from AppliancePartsPros was flawless. 

I ordered two replacement bake elements from AppliancePartsPros.com. On the website, I was able to confirm that the elements would fit our oven. I used the oven's model number to do this, and it was in the website's system even though it's around 30 years old. There was a video on the website showing how to swap out oven elements (which is not difficult), and I watched that. I cleaned the ovens the night before I installed the new elements, and when I put them in it was as if we had a new appliance. I'd fixed it for about $80 in parts (including shipping and sales tax), whereas a new oven would have cost at least $2,000. A useful hint from the video was to ensure that the wires for the element don't slip down behind the oven when removed, so I used electrical tape to secure them before I removed the old elements. 

We ordered the replacement element and replaced it our selves.