FRONT BURNER HAS NEVER WORKED, HOW CAN I OPEN FLAT TOP AND TRY TO FIX IT?

Hi and welcome to FixYa. I am Kelly. On your cook-top the gas igniters are cycled on and off by a ceramic and copper switch on the front of each of the gas valves. Some of them are in wired Series ...i.e any burner on will cycle all igniters on the cook top and some of them are in Parallel where individual burners are controlled by each gas burner control knob. Inside these tiny ceramic switches there is a flat thin strip of copper that as the gas valve is rotated a cam of the switch actuates pushes the copper strip against the fixed contact. Those little strips over time either break or get bent and stay against the fixed contact. Hence you have and igniter on when the burner control is off. The only fix is to find out which little ceramic switch on the front of the gas valve is stuck. You do it with an Ohm meter POWER off. They all should read open with the burner controls off. The one that reads continuity across the 2 wires is the bad switch.

Thanks for Choosing FixYa.

Kelly

you need to check the wiring to that burner it appears that there has been a short to the burner

If you have the glass cooktop slide-in model, the problem is most likely the burner "ribbon' under the glass top for the small burner has come loose. I fixed mine with only a phillips-head screwdriver, needle-nosed pliers, and a 1/4" wrench (1/4" socket on the end of a nutdriver works better). Here are the steps I took to fix it: 1) Slide the oven out from the counter so the sides of the oven are clear of the counter top. 2) Remove the phillips head screws-1 on each side of the oven near the top/rear. These will be the only phillips-head screws you will need to remove. 3) Open the oven door and remove the 4 hex-head screws at the top/front/inside the oven- there are 2 on each side which follow the opening of the door. Then close the door. 4) Pull off the burner knobs by gripping them and pulling straight up. Don't worry, you will not break them but you will need to give them a good tug. 5) Remove the burner retaining nuts that are under the knobs-you may need a wrench to loosen them but only tighten them by hand when reinstalling. 6) Pull the face of the control panel away from the oven slowly until you see a ribbon connector on the right side and then disconnect the ribbon and remove the face plate from the oven. 7) Remove the 4 hex-head screws from the face plate bracket (the plastic part that was holding the face plate) and pull the bracket toward the front of the oven until it flops over and rests on the oven door handle. 8) remove the 2 black screws holding down the glass top-one on each side of the oven-the screw heads face the front of the oven. 9) Disconnect the two wiring harnesses attached to the cook top. Don't worry, they only fit one way so you don't need to label them. 10) Lift the cook top until the wiring harnesses are clear of the holes and place it upside down on a flat surrface. 11) Remove the two retaining bracket screws and brackets from each side of the non-working burner. 12) Slowly lift the burner and flip it upwards until you see the ribbon coils. It should not be necessary to disconnect any wires. 13) Look at the ribbon coils very carefully to see if any of them are disconnected from their main connection points. If so, feed the ribbon back inside the pinch point (you may need a small screwdriver to open the pinch point first) and then use a pair of needle-nosed pliers to pinch the ribbon to hold it in place. I had to use a voltage meter set in the OHM position to find where mine were disconnected. Once you pinch the ribbon end back into place, put everything back together in reverse order. If your burner still does not work, your burner knob switch may be bad. I hope this helps. Good Luck!

I had the same problem. Mine was caused by liquid seeping into the infinite switch (the switch that gets rotated by the knob to set burner temperature). This caused one of the live wires to short to ground within the switch. Bad Design IMHO. Replacing the switch fixed the problem (you can get replacement parts at Searspartsdirect.com - search using the cooktop model number).
You first need to remove the unit from its installation. Start by disconnecting the exhaust fan from the ductwork. Then push the cooktop up.
To get at the switch you need to remove the top by taking off only the top row of screws all around the unit and also in the down draft cavity (the down draft cavity is where the grease guard mesh is)

Turn off the circuit breaker to the cooktop. Verify by making sure the burners/fan do not come on. Disconnect the exhaust fan (underneath the cooktop) from the ductwork by removing the tape that joins it. While you are underneath the cooktop, open the junction box. Label the four wires that are joined so that you will be able to connect them later. Then disconnect the four wires. Remove the metal sheating that connects to the junction box (there is a nut on the inside of the junction box that you loosen. Pull out all the supply wires (from the mains) from the junction box. Then push the cooktop up and out and lay it flat on a table with the flat side down.
Take off only the top row of screws all around the unit. Rotate the unit so that you can get to the down draft cavity (the down draft cavity is where the grease guard mesh is). Remove the two center screws. Then pull the black top off.

For an exploded view of the unit check out
http://www.appliancepartspros.com/partsearch/model.aspx?model_id=47639&diagram_id=681565#d681565

Hi JHMcdona

Most likely the electrode for the right burner is defective. As well as the switch may also be defective (is shorted because of pressing hard on it trying to make it work!!). Change the electrode and igniter switch of the right front burner.

Regards

If you have the glass cooktop slide-in model, the problem is most likely the burner "ribbon' under the glass top for the small burner has come loose. I fixed mine with only a phillips-head screwdriver, needle-nosed pliers, and a 1/4" wrench (1/4" socket on the end of a nutdriver works better). Here are the steps I took to fix it: 1) Slide the oven out from the counter so the sides of the oven are clear of the counter top. 2) Remove the phillips head screws-1 on each side of the oven near the top/rear. These will be the only phillips-head screws you will need to remove. 3) Open the oven door and remove the 4 hex-head screws at the top/front/inside the oven- there are 2 on each side which follow the opening of the door. Then close the door. 4) Pull off the burner knobs by gripping them and pulling straight up. Don't worry, you will not break them but you will need to give them a good tug. 5) Remove the burner retaining nuts that are under the knobs-you may need a wrench to loosen them but only tighten them by hand when reinstalling. 6) Pull the face of the control panel away from the oven slowly until you see a ribbon connector on the right side and then disconnect the ribbon and remove the face plate from the oven. 7) Remove the 4 hex-head screws from the face plate bracket (the plastic part that was holding the face plate) and pull the bracket toward the front of the oven until it flops over and rests on the oven door handle. 8) remove the 2 black screws holding down the glass top-one on each side of the oven-the screw heads face the front of the oven. 9) Disconnect the two wiring harnesses attached to the cook top. Don't worry, they only fit one way so you don't need to label them. 10) Lift the cook top until the wiring harnesses are clear of the holes and place it upside down on a flat surrface. 11) Remove the two retaining bracket screws and brackets from each side of the non-working burner. 12) Slowly lift the burner and flip it upwards until you see the ribbon coils. It should not be necessary to disconnect any wires. 13) Look at the ribbon coils very carefully to see if any of them are disconnected from their main connection points. If so, feed the ribbon back inside the pinch point (you may need a small screwdriver to open the pinch point first) and then use a pair of needle-nosed pliers to pinch the ribbon to hold it in place. I had to use a voltage meter set in the OHM position to find where mine were disconnected. Once you pinch the ribbon end back into place, put everything back together in reverse order. If your burner still does not work, your burner knob switch may be bad. I hope this helps. Good Luck!

I am going to assume you hear the "clicking" sound when you try to light the burner.
open the top of the stove. there are four burner. look at the one that is not lighting. use a straighten paper clip open the holes that is directly in-front of the tube that is facing the center of ignitor.
also make sure that the air vent directly behind the knob is fully open.

It sounds like the round burner orifices are dirty. Remove the round orifices and clean in warm soapy water, using a plastic scrubber or toothbrush to remove and dirt and residue around the sides of the burner. Do the same on the little electrode that protrudes at some position around the burner orifice seat.

The system works by the spark ignition module knowing a gas knob is open, and sensing for a flame by ionization within the exhaust gases of the flame. If things are dirty, then the module cannot read the ionization and shuts down the burner, and will also cause the spark to continue.

Also make sure all the burner orifices are properly seated in their holder. If not, the same thing will happen.

It sounds like the burner needs to be replaced. When they burn out sometimes they short out to ground. The cooktop will have to be removed from the counter and the glass top opened. You will probably be able to see where the element is burned out. Replace it and you should be fine. If it is too expensive to fix just disconnect the wires to the burner where they attach to the control . Then you can use the remaining burners. I really don't know what a replacement burner costs. An open coil is around $30.

didi you try heating the burner slightly to soften the plastic a bit before trying to scrape off, cant see any reason why that wouldnt work, using a razor blade held flat will scrape just about anything off of the glass tops!