Oven DSI igniter cleaning?

[caphair]

My oven has been randomly turning on when selecting bake. Broil works fine as well as the stove top heaters.

Checked and noticed the ignitor doesn’t ignite. Read that sometimes cleaning the tip can help. Which I did but now it ignites inconsistently

My question, should you only clean the very tip or entire rod? I’m guessing this works similar to a spark plug as the cage has a little “pointer” that acts as a ground for the spark to travel back to?

Would bending that little ground tab closer to the rod help with spark if it’s still acting up and sparking randomly after cleaning?

[R_J]

Clean the very tip of the wire and clean the point of the ground, You can bend the ground tip so it is a bit closer, that should help.

[caphair]

Originally Posted by R_J

Clean the very tip of the wire and clean the point of the ground, You can bend the ground tip so it is a bit closer, that should help.

Is the gap size crucial at all like a spark plug? Or just bend it slightly and should be good to go?

Another thing does the rod have to be perfectly straight? Mine has a minimal bend to it. Looks a bit wavy but not too noticeable

[R_J]

It should be lined up with the ground point, it does not have to be perfect and the gap is not that critical like a spark plug
As the igniter gets used the end gets a bit burnt and this starts to act like an insulation to the spark, cleaning it will expose the metal so it can arc better.

[kaboom]

Clean the entire rod. It's also used for flame sense after ignition.
If it lites & then goes out, it's not conducting to the flame enough=poor flame sense.

[redwire]

It's actually two electrodes - the flame rod and the surrounding half-shell. Both need to be clean to get decent conductivity for flame detection. The pointy end as well for the igniter spark.
I would use steel wool or 3M scouring pad to clean off soot and oxide etc without leaving debris behind. Sandpaper can leave silicon dioxide (insulator) deposits if you don't clean that off, so they usually say "don't use sand paper!" but I find it's OK if you get the dust off.
The hardest part is not breaking the porcelain.
If you still have problems after a good cleaning, it can be the orifice has food on it and the flame is wonky. Or the wiring has a break in the insulation etc.

[caphair]

Originally Posted by redwire

It's actually two electrodes - the flame rod and the surrounding half-shell. Both need to be clean to get decent conductivity for flame detection. The pointy end as well for the igniter spark.
I would use steel wool or 3M scouring pad to clean off soot and oxide etc without leaving debris behind. Sandpaper can leave silicon dioxide (insulator) deposits if you don't clean that off, so they usually say "don't use sand paper!" but I find it's OK if you get the dust off.
The hardest part is not breaking the porcelain.
If you still have problems after a good cleaning, it can be the orifice has food on it and the flame is wonky. Or the wiring has a break in the insulation etc.

Do you mean clean the white porcelain part as well?

[redwire]

If the porcelain has rust/soot buildup (mostly at the flat end) it causes high leakage current and you either get the spark happening there (not at the gap) or a false flameout detected. So the porcelain needs to be clean too.