Garage Door problem

[reinhard1]

my neighbor has a garage door that closes but wont go up. her husband is in the military and is overseas and i dont know how to help her with it. it can be lifted up manualy but not with the opener. it will go down with the opener. any ideas? thanks. good luck.

[Macgyver55]

Does the opener attempt to lift it and can't or does it not even try?

Does the opener make any strange noises?

[jmd1]

Does it make a horrible noise? If so the plastic worm drive piece that connects the pull rod to the opener/door may be stripped. Easy fix i had to do both of mine last year. Could be the spring and or cable that is broken too, i would call a door man for that. Springs are a good way to loose some body parts if you don't know what you are doing.

[Macgyver55]

Could be the spring and or cable that is broken too, i would call a door man for that. Springs are a good way to loose some body parts if you don't know what you are doing.

Likely not the problem if it can be opened by hand as he said.

[reinhard1]

actualy i didn't get a chance to check it out myself if it made noise or not. she called me and then went to Church activities with her kids. i'll have to wait and see when she gets home. all i know that it goes down by itself but not up. good luck.

[delcecchi]

There are a few possibilities. Here is my suggestion of how to proceed.

1. with door down, pull the rope to disengage the opener from the door.

2. raise the door manually. If it is hard to lift, it's a broken or badly adjusted spring.

3. If you can lift it easily, check the safety tension adjustment screw.

4. If adjusting the up tension limit doesn't help, get enough stuff off the opener to be able to see the drive train and look at the gears. Typically there is a worm gear driven by the motor which engages a toothed gear or two that drives the chain/belt. I don't know about screw type.

5. Run the opener up disconnected from door. Does the shuttle move like the door was going up? Could maybe make this step 3 because if it doesn't go up without the door it isn't the tension.

A visual inspection of the springs might help also.

[reinhard1]

thanks. i'll have to wait for her to get home today. very good suggestions. i dont know much about garage doors but i will do the steps. the lady is a busy gal with 3 kids, a school teacher, and a lot of things inbetween and a husband in the Army now in Kuwait.

good luck.

[shizzy]

Also, make sure all of the rollers are in the track. I have a set of old half rotted garage doors and the lower roller on one of them pops out of the track every once in a while and allows the door to move just enough off kilter to stop the opener from operating properly.