Garage Door Opener

[lawdog]

So my Overheaddoor garage door opener (696cd/b model I think) all the sudden gets about a foot from the floor and then reverses. Real PITA. Its about 10 years old and just started doing it. We've lived here a year and it worked fine up until about a week ago. Could the door be catching? It seems to jerk there…Is there an easy adjustment on these? There down force seems to be maxed out from what I can tell.

[Macgyver55]

Start by making sure there are no obstructions in the track. Unhook the opener and open the door manually to see if it moves smoothly. Next make sure there is no loose hardware on the tracks, rollers and brackets. Make sure the electric eyes are aimed properly and the lenses are clean. Lube the rollers, tracks and chain and don't forget to do the torsion springs. If none of this changes anything, you may have something wrong with the sensitivity adjustment, or are incorrectly adjusting it.

[Tom7227]

I had a leaf hanging by some spider web cause the same thing. Check it out.

[Dave]

A leaf stuck to the door bottom was the culprit on mine before.

[crothmeier]

10 years is pretty good for openers today. But after 10 years of up and down, something is bound to vibrate loose. its a good idea to check the hardware nuts and bolts as well as the rollers on the doors. They are $4 apiece and will need replacing after awhile. Like mentioned above release the door from the opener and manually run it up and down. if there's a catch you should easily be able to find it.

If its the opener, you can buy a nice new chamberlain for under $150 this time of year.

[BoxMN]

I had similar symptoms but mine (also about 11-12 years old, in otherwise clean and cared-for garage) would only go DOWN from open about 10" then reverse. I tried all the normal things, and even the advanced things that the manufacturer says to try.

Well, someone here told me to clean the lenses of the safety eye things, which I did. But he told me to really CLEAN them with alcohol and q-tips. I laughed, but tried it. I'll be darned if that didn't do it.

So worth a try, get some q-tips and alcohol and clean them good. Good luck!

[BartmanMN]

Happened to me twice this winter. Both times I had bumped the sensors with my fish house.

[fishersofmen]

My old one starting doing the same thing a couple years ago and it was a bad circuit board or something. Was time for a new one anyway so I got a new whisper quiet belt drive you can hardly hear that thing operate.

[Dragonsm]

A few years back ran into this issue in our old house. After pulling the release on the garage door opener, ended up finding out I had a busted hinge (top hinge) on one side of the door that was binding with enough resistance to trip the garage door opener. Take a close look at all the hinges.

Just ran into a busted hinge last weekend on the new house. While closing the door I heard a "click" that sounded weird and upon close inspection found it was partially cracked through. Proceeded to check all the rest of the hinges.

Steve

[leech~~]

Start by making sure there are no obstructions in the track. Unhook the opener and open the door manually to see if it moves smoothly. Next make sure there is no loose hardware on the tracks, rollers and brackets. Make sure the electric eyes are aimed properly and the lenses are clean. Lube the rollers, tracks and chain and don't forget to do the torsion springs. If none of this changes anything, you may have something wrong with the sensitivity adjustment, or are incorrectly adjusting it.

Plus+1 oh and make sure your kids base ball bat didn't fall from the corner where it was sitting and get stuck in the track edge! Been there!

[Walleyehooker]

Cold weather can make things stiffer and require more down pressure setting.

[bak2MN]

Mine does it when its cold out. Pain in the arse!!

[PK3]

Agreed with walleyehooker. This cold makes most things more stiff requiring more down pressure.