Burner Sparks But Will Not Light

Somebody turns the knob, the module clicks steadily, and nothing lights. It is the most common range call we take, and it is worth understanding what the click is telling you.

The click is not the problem

The clicking is the spark module firing. Hearing it means the module has power and at least one output is alive. What it does not tell you is whether the spark is arriving at the right place, at the right gap, in the presence of gas.

Three things we separate on site

Is gas reaching the burner? If another burner on the same manifold lights normally, supply is fine and the fault is local. If nothing on the range lights, we check supply before touching anything else.

Is the spark landing? A spark that jumps to the burner cap instead of across the intended gap will click forever without igniting anything. Ceramic that has cracked, or an electrode that has been knocked out of position during cleaning, both produce this. So does a burner cap seated a few degrees off its register — a surprisingly frequent finding after a deep clean.

Is the module driving every channel? Spark modules fail one output at a time. When three burners light and the fourth only clicks, the module is the first suspect, not the burner.

The clean that caused it

A large share of these calls arrive within a week or two of a thorough kitchen clean, and the connection is not a coincidence.

Burner caps sit on a register that locates them precisely over the ports. Put a cap back a few degrees out of position, or on top of a crumb, and the spark gap is no longer where the gas is. The burner will click indefinitely and light nothing. Lifting each cap and reseating it squarely fixes a genuine proportion of no-light complaints before anyone needs to be called.

Water is the other one. An electrode that has been soaked during cleaning will not spark reliably until it has dried out completely, which can take longer than people expect. If the fault appeared the same day the cooktop was washed, give it a day before assuming a part has failed.

The third is physical damage. Electrodes are ceramic-insulated and they are brittle. A knock from a heavy pan or a scouring pad catching the tip is enough to crack the insulator, after which the spark tracks to the nearest metal instead of jumping the intended gap. That fault looks identical from across the kitchen and is obvious the moment you get a light on it.

Two symptoms that are not this fault at all

Worth separating, because they change the part entirely.

If every burner sparks whenever any single knob is turned, the module is being told all channels are calling. That is usually moisture bridging a switch contact after a spill or a clean, and it often clears on its own once the assembly dries.

If a burner lights and then goes out when you release the knob, the ignition side of the circuit is working perfectly. That symptom belongs to the flame-sensing side of the valve, and describing it accurately when you call saves the technician a trip back to the van.

What we do not assume

We do not assume the burner. The burner itself is the last part on the list rather than the first, because three of the four common causes sit upstream of it: the module, the electrode and its lead, and the seating of the cap. Replacing a burner assembly to fix a module that has lost one output channel is a repair that comes back.

We do not assume a part is available, either. Igniters, electrodes and spark modules are frequently revised part-way through a model’s production run, so the correct component is decided by the serial number off the rating plate as well as by the model. Where a genuine OEM part is going to take time to arrive, you hear that with the estimate rather than after you have approved it.

And we do not quote before we measure. The diagnostic is flat, it is credited toward the repair when you approve the work, and the estimate is written.