Garage Door Opener Repair

Nothing's more frustrating than coming home to a garage door opener that is operating on the fritz. What is more, determining why it doesn't work can be a daunting task. The following article offers some tips that can help you repair a garage door opener.

Troubleshooting

The best way to solve a mechanical problem is to systematically work toward eliminating the problem. If it's not one issue, move on to the next.

Check to make sure there's power.

Is the door set to only open using the inside switch?

Is the remote not working?

Look at the electric eyes that comprise the safety feature of the door. Are they on? If they are, are they pointing directly at each other? If you do this and the garage door still doesn't work, or if they're not on, then you need to try to reset the system.

Shut off the power to the system, either by turning off the house power or unplugging the system. Count to ten. Restore power. Did this work? If it didn't, inspect the wiring between the opener and the photocell modules.
Replace any damaged wiring. If the wiring is good, then either the opener's main sequencer board or the modules are bad.

If the garage door starts opening on its own, there may be an intermittent short. Look for cut wiring and repair it. Or, there may be outside signals. Reprogram per the manual.

If the door won't close, check to ensure there's nothing blocking it. You may need to adjust the close force.

Sometimes, a concrete floor changes in height with the season, which may be causing the problem.

Tracking Problems

If the garage door doesn't open smoothly or does so noisily, there may be a problem with the tracks. To check this:

Put the opening system on manual operation.

Check the door's balance. If this is all right, proceed to the next step.

Check the tracks' alignment. If they have been somehow skewed, unscrew them, adjust, and reattach. Try the opener again.

Clean the tracks with a de-greaser and rag. Tracks shouldn't be greasy.

Clean and lubricate the moving parts with light oil.