Oven will not maintain temperature

The igniter is likely failing and needs to be replaced. Here's my recent write-up:

Igniters take the place of pilot lights on most modern gas ovens, clothes dryers, and furnaces. In order for these appliances to work, the gas valve needs to receive 2.5 to 3.0 amps of current. Power flows, in series, from the temperature control to the igniter and then to the gas valve. If the igniter is burned out, or not drawing enough current (weakened), the gas valve will not open. It's even possible for the igniter to glow but, since the gas valve isn't receiving enough current, the gas won't come on to light the burner.


My GE XL44 Gas Range, Model No. JGBC20GEV1AD, recently did not light. The top burners, however, worked perfectly. Since I didn't see the igniter glow at all, when I turned the temperature control knob on, I suspected the oven igniter was bad. Here's how to confidently diagnose and repair the oven:

1. TRICK: Remove oven door. If you don't, access will be very difficult. On many ovens, open the door a few inches to the special stop position that holds the door open. Grasp door firmly on each side and lift straight up and off the hinges.

2. Remove racks, oven bottom, and flame spreader, to gain access to the igniter and oven gas valve.

3. Test amperage and voltage going to the igniter with a clamp meter, when the oven control knob is turned to 350 degrees F. Using a Fluke 322 Clamp Meter, my igniter drew 0.0 amps and 0.0 volts. On my oven, an igniter is bad if it draws less than 2.5 amps. The evidence is stacking up that the igniter is bad.

4. Turn off the breaker switch going to the gas range.

5. Remove both connectors to the oven gas valve and ohm-test the valve. The gas valve needs to be ruled out, prior to automatically replacing the igniter. With both wires removed, the oven gas valve tested fine at 1.6 ohms. The evidence is stacking up further that the igniter is bad.

6. Remove the igniter from the oven, by removing the connector going from the igniter to the oven gas valve, cutting the other igniter wire going to the temperature control valve, and removing both igniter mounting screws. After removing the igniter, I checked its resistance with a multimeter. It was infinite, indicating it had burned out.

7. Mount the new igniter, size the wires, connect the wires, button everything up, turn on the breaker switch, and test the oven. My oven fired right up, by the way, and the new igniter (Surfaceigniter Corp. AR403), bought off eBay for $24.95, including shipping, tested out at 228.8 ohms, which serves as my future benchmark.

8. Update Home Maintenance Log (Date, Work Performed) on the computer.

Thanks so much for your reply. Do you think it still could be the igniter if the oven does ignite and reaches set temp. but temp. is not maintained as food is cooking.

It could be but it could also be a problem with the oven control and sensor assembly.