How to Replace Igniter on Gas Oven

Quick Answer

To replace a gas oven igniter, disconnect the power, remove the oven racks and bottom floor panel, unscrew the old igniter from the burner tube, unplug the wire harness, and install the new unit without touching the black element with your bare hands.

Look, a bad igniter is probably the most common gas oven repair I do. Replaced about fifteen of these in the last couple months alone. If yours is getting weak but still sorta working, your oven takes forever to preheat and you might catch a faint whiff of gas before it lights. Ignore it too long and the gas valve completely stops opening. Now you've got a dead oven and a hungry family.

GenericOvenSeverity: lowDifficulty: intermediate

Time to Fix

30–60 min

Difficulty

intermediate

Parts Cost

—

Tools Needed

1/4 inch nut driver, Phillips #2 screwdriver

What Does the OVEN-IGNITER-REPLACE Code Mean?

Honestly this is one of the easier appliance repairs out there. Most people knock it out in 30-40 minutes with just a nut driver and a screwdriver. Parts run anywhere from $15 to $50 depending on your oven brand, so you're saving real money doing this yourself instead of paying a tech $100-150 just for the labor.

Common Causes

Normal heat cycling wear after 5-10 years of use. The silicon carbide element expands and contracts thousands of times and eventually cracks or loses resistance.
Someone touched the black element with bare fingers during a previous repair or inspection, leaving skin oils that created a hot spot and burned it out way earlier than it should have.
Oven cleaner or moisture got onto the element, either from a self-cleaning cycle gone sideways or from steam cleaning. Chemical residue on silicon carbide is bad news.
A power surge or voltage spike sent too much current through the igniter and caused it to fail immediately instead of gradually.
The igniter got physically cracked or chipped, sometimes from a pan being dropped hard onto the oven floor and catching the burner assembly on the way down.

Symptoms You May Notice

You turn the oven on and wait, and nothing happens. The igniter never glows at all, and after about 60 seconds the oven shuts the gas off and gives up.
The igniter glows orange, sometimes for a full minute or more, but the burner never catches. That's a weak igniter, not a dead one, but it still needs replacing.
Oven's taking 20-30 minutes to preheat to 350 when it used to hit temp in 10. The igniter's drawing just barely enough amperage to crack the valve open.
You get a brief hit of gas smell right before the oven lights, or it takes two or three tries before the burner catches. Weak igniters let a little gas through before the valve fully opens.
You can actually see a visible crack or break in the dark element when you pull the floor panel and look at the igniter directly.

Tools Required for Diagnosis

1/4 inch nut driverPhillips #2 screwdriverFlat head screwdriverWork glovesFlashlight or headlampMultimeter (for testing old igniter resistance)Screw extractor set (in case screws are stripped)Rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs (if igniter element gets touched)

Diagnostic Checklist

Follow these steps in order. We start with the easiest external fixes before opening up the machine.

ComponentComponent Under Test

Expected Range40–400 ohms

ConditionIf Open (OL) or infinite, replace component.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why can't I touch the black part of the new igniter?

It's made of silicon carbide or silicon nitride, both super heat-sensitive materials. Skin oils stick to the surface and when the igniter gets hot, that oily spot heats up faster than the rest of the element and creates a stress fracture. Usually kills it within a few cycles, not months. If you already touched it, don't panic. Wipe it down carefully with a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol, let it dry completely, and then install it. Just don't skip that step or you'll be doing this repair again in a week.

My new igniter doesn't have the same plug as the old one. What do I do?

You probably bought a universal igniter, which is totally fine and usually cheaper. Universal ones come with bare wire ends and a couple of ceramic wire nuts instead of a molded plug. You'll cut the old plug off, strip about half an inch of insulation from both wires, and twist them together with the new igniter's wires using those ceramic nuts. Polarity doesn't matter on igniters, either wire can go to either side. Just make sure you use the ceramic nuts that came with the kit, not regular plastic ones. Regular wire nuts will melt.

How do I know the igniter is definitely the problem and not something else?

If the igniter doesn't glow at all when you turn the oven on, it's dead. Pretty straightforward. If it glows orange but the burner never lights, that's a weak igniter, drawing current but not enough amperage to trigger the safety valve. You can confirm with a multimeter: disconnect it and check ohms. A good igniter reads 40 to 400 ohms. Zero or open circuit and it's gone. A glowing igniter that reads in that range but still won't light usually means it's borderline weak, and replacing it is the standard fix at that point.

Is a round igniter different from a square one?

Yeah, they're not interchangeable at all. Round and square igniters operate at different voltages and draw different amperages. Swapping types won't work and could actually damage the gas valve over time. Always match the shape. And honestly, just use your oven's full model number to look up the exact part, that's the safest approach. The model number sticker is usually right inside the oven door frame on the left side.

How long do gas oven igniters usually last?

Somewhere between 5 and 10 years is pretty typical, but it really depends on how hard you cook. Replaced one last week that was only 4 years old in a household that bakes almost every day. I've also seen igniters go 12 years in a kitchen where the oven barely gets used. Self-cleaning ovens tend to burn them out faster because that 900°F cleaning cycle is brutal on the element. When one starts going weak you'll notice the preheat taking longer and longer before it finally just stops lighting altogether.

Models Known to Experience OVEN-IGNITER-REPLACE Errors

This repair applies to most Generic ovens with this error code. Common model numbers include:

Whirlpool WFG320M0BS, GE JGBS66REKSS, Frigidaire FFGF3054TS, Samsung NX58H5600SS, LG LRG3061ST, Kenmore 74333, Maytag MGR8800FZ, Bosch HGI8054UC

Written by

Mike Sullivan

Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 20 years experience

Last verified for technical accuracy on March 17, 2026