A gas burner that will not light is three free checks and one gas rule: the checks are residue, a cap off its seat and water from the last spill, and the rule is that a smell of gas ends the diagnosis rather than starting it. The safety list on this page opens with an instruction rather than a part: you smell gas while trying to light a burner: stop using the appliance, turn every knob off, open the windows, do not make another ignition attempt, and call the gas supplier - the source puts this ahead of every repair on the page [S1]. That is what puts the gas burner clicks but will not light in the high-risk column, and it is why isolated before anything is opened comes before any diagnosis. Once the machine is safe to work on, food residue blocking the burner ports is where the search starts — no part needed [S1], about 10 minutes — with food residue blocking the burner ports the cheapest possibility at no part needed [S1]. It is reported as the burner clicks but there is no flame, one burner will not light while the others are fine, it stopped lighting after I cleaned it, the igniter keeps clicking even with the knobs off, there is no clicking sound at all or the flame is small and yellow instead of blue.
What a technician actually does
worn igniter throwing a weak spark [S2]
medium likelihood advanced $305–$442 installed about 75 min
the burner clicks but there is no flame there is no clicking sound at all
The repair the source performs most often on gas equipment - 223 completed igniter jobs - and the reason a stove degrades rather than fails: the electrode still sparks, just not reliably enough to light the gas every time, so one burner becomes fussy before it stops working. The source's warning about doing this by eye is worth keeping: it measures amp draw at the igniter rather than judging the glow, because an igniter that looks perfectly alive is often the failed part.
S2 prices a completed oven igniter replacement at $305-442 with a $352 median across 223 jobs, its most frequently performed gas repair; the same page prices a spark electrode or spark module at $315-576
restricted gas flow, or a burner that lights and then goes out [S1]
medium likelihood pro $295–$455 installed about 90 min
the flame is small and yellow instead of blue one burner will not light while the others are fine
Two faults the source groups under the same heading and hands to a technician. A flame that is small, yellow or uneven points at restricted flow - partly blocked ports on the household side, a partly closed or worn burner valve on the technician's. A burner that lights and then dies a few seconds later is the flame-sensing side refusing to keep the gas on, which is a valve or a sensing fault and not an ignition one. Both are gas work: the source's rule is that anything past the cap and the ports belongs to somebody insured for it.
S2 prices a burner assembly, head or burner valve at $295-455 installed and quotes an oven safety valve only after inspection; no part-only figures are published
dead igniter, cracked electrode or failed spark module [S2]
medium likelihood pro $315–$576 installed about 90 min
there is no clicking sound at all the igniter keeps clicking even with the knobs off
The silence is the diagnosis: a stove with no click at all has lost its spark rather than its gas, and the module behind the clicking is the part that decides. The source separates the two ends of this cleanly - continuous clicking with the knobs off is the switch or the module, no clicking ever is the module or a cracked electrode - and both sit in the dearest band on its gas price list.
S2 prices a spark electrode or spark module at $315-576 installed, the widest band in its gas price table; no part-only figure is published
Repair or replace?
Work the three free causes first, in the order the source lists them - residue in the ports, a cap off its seat, moisture from the last spill - because between them they explain a stove where every burner clicks and a stove with one stubborn burner, and they cost nothing. If it is past that, the repair is an igniter or a burner valve at roughly $300-455, which is inside the half-of-new-price line on a $600 range and clearly inside it on a pro-style one. A burner that lights and goes out, or a smell of gas, is not a repair decision at all: it is a call. [S2]
- Typical completed repair: $295–$455 [S2]
- Comparable new unit: $600–$3,000 [S2]
- Planning life used for the decision: 16 years
- The comparison is $300-455 against a new range from $600, and it is not close - which is why the sources treat gas as the most repair-worthy cooking appliance there is. The exception is the same one they name for ovens: a control board past ten years on a machine already near its 15-17 year life, where the part is affordable but the next failure is already queued behind it.
S3 puts a gas range or oven at 15-17 years, the longest-lived appliance in the kitchen and the reason it calls gas burners simple and rugged; the same source gives the comparison figure used here - a new range at $600-3,000 or more for pro-grade - and its own rule for the decision: under ten years old repair almost always wins, between ten and fifteen a small part is still worth fixing while a control board becomes a closer call
Run your own quote through the calculator — the same half-of-new-price rule with your numbers.
Do this first (free)
food residue blocking the burner ports [S1]
high likelihood easy no part needed about 10 min
the burner clicks but there is no flame one burner will not light while the others are fine
The first of the three causes the source says a household can clear in under ten minutes, and the one behind a stove where every burner clicks without lighting. The gas is arriving and the spark is firing; what has changed is the path the gas takes through the ports around the cap. The source's price list treats this as the no-parts tier explicitly - burner port cleaning, reseating and calibration appear on it at the $99 diagnostic and nothing more, which is the invoice for a visit that finds nothing to replace.
a burner cap sitting off its seat [S1]
high likelihood easy no part needed about 5 min
one burner will not light while the others are fine the flame is small and yellow instead of blue
The tell is that it is one burner rather than all of them: a cap that has been knocked a millimetre off its seat sends the gas sideways instead of up through the slots, so the igniter sparks into a mixture that is not where it should be. Reseating it costs nothing, and the source puts it in the same self-fix tier as the residue. A cap that is visibly warped or cracked is the one version of this that needs a part, and S2 prices a burner head or assembly at $295-455 installed rather than a cap alone.
moisture left in the igniter after a spill or a cleaning [S1]
high likelihood easy no part needed about 30 min
it stopped lighting after I cleaned it the igniter keeps clicking even with the knobs off
The cause with the clearest history in the source's table: a stove that stopped lighting right after it was cleaned, or a burner that will not light after a boil-over. Water in the igniter or under the cap shorts the spark, and the same water in the spark switch is what makes a stove click continuously with every knob turned off. The source's own advice is to wait for it to dry and try again - it is in the you-first column, and only becomes a technician's job if the clicking survives being dry.