Garage door opener prob - not going down

[BoxMN]

12 yo Chamberlain 1/2 hp, chain drive, 10' wide by 8' tall steel insulated door. I have two of these, the other is working perfect. On the one that is not working, the right side cable broke at the bottom, due to corrosion (fixed that prob earlier, but not until the cable rusted enough to get weak).

So I put two new cables on and it went pretty good. Door slides freely up and down. The safety lights are lined up, I know for sure.

Now, when I hit the opener button from the full "up" position to go down, it goes about anywhere from 4 to 12 inches, then return to top and lights blink as if it was stopped. IF I hold the opener button down, it will lower the door properly. If it is down, it will raise the door properly with just a normal press of the button. It does this with or without the door attached, so it doesn't seem the door is the issue at all.

I thought it might need lube, so I put some grease on the carriage, and the first time it worked fine, so I thought it was fixed. Nope, second and subsequent times it is only going a short distance before some type of pressure is telling the opener that it is too tight.

I did try adjusting the pressure screw and it doesn't matter where I have it. I am wondering what might have gotten messed up while the cable was broke, that got "something" out of alignment....?....

I compare the other door, and the chain seems about the same tightness, nothing seems broken, no parts fell down. The chain goes around pulleys the same, although the pullet on the door header side of the bad one seems a bit more worn, but not broken.

Any advice would be appreciated!!!. Thank you!

[outdoors247]

You said the safety lights are lined up but, did you check to see if the glass on the sensors is clean? I ask this because I just had the same problem last week. I took a Q-Tip and wet it down and rubbed all the dirt and film off the sensor. Mine worked perfectly after this cleaning. It's worth a look if you didn't check them.

[BoxMN]

I did not clean it on the glass, but will give it a try, thanks! The lights are lighting up properly though (one side yellow, one side green), so I figured it was good.

[amateurfishing]

in the process of it all maybe your torsion springs became unbalanced? if your door goes up & down freely though i dont think torsion springs are the issue, we had similar issue after dog leash was left on the track and someone closed and reopened door, but had 3 rollers come out of track and door was slanted

maybe just more tightening on torsion springs?

[crothmeier]

Does the light on the unit blink a certain number of times? that on some models the number the indicator of failure. Chamberlain has a good customer service line that you could look up online and they'd be able to help.

12 years old though is getting to the point where a new one might be in order.

[Hoey]

There should be a force limit adjustment that is there to protect a child from being crushed by the opener. Maybe that needs to be adjusted. Here is a link to force adjustments. Chamberlin Door Force Adjustment

[BartmanMN]

If it does this with the door not even attached, that is really odd. Seems like something internal is binding or something.

[BoxMN]

If it does this with the door not even attached, that is really odd. Seems like something internal is binding or something.

Yeah, it does this with the door not even attached, which is why I don't think it is the door or springs. But when I hold the button down, it will go all the way, with or without the door, so it isn't something that is SO stuck, just enough for it to "feel" like it is binding.

I will try the Chamberlain number tomorrow.

But I don't think 13 or 14 years is really that long of a life yet. Don't want to drop the $$$ like any of us ever do, but if I can get it working I will try, haha!

Thanks for the advice guys!

edit - hmmm... the link Hoey gave got me to this... http://chamberlain.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5188 ....

I will try that tonight or tomorrow, if I can learn where and how to do this, and then call them if this doesn't do it. Thanks again!

[Surface Tension]

Binding by miss alignment or uneven tension would be ruled out because its doing this with the door off the train.

If your positive the eyes are aligned and not moving off alignment then second thought would be a damaged sensor wire from servicing the cable or snagged and damaged when the cable broke.

Next, since the door probably cocked and bound when the cable broke, spinning a worm gear would be likely. If the door is stopping in the correct position on lift and when overriding the close by holding the button in and stopping at full stop then that tells me the counter is working.

[OLE77]

If you your wall control is the style with a lite button and a lock

button, check to see if the lock button has been pressed. If it is on the only way door will go down is by holding close button overriding it.

A red indicator lite will be on by the lock button if it is activated.

[RebelSS]

Like Surface Tension said, check that worm drive gear....that's what happened to mine after a cable malfunction. I took the cover off, and it had "spun out" past the sensor. Just had to reset/move the sensor on the gear drive to the proper position,(easy)and I was back to running properly.

[BoxMN]

Well, it looks like the cleaning of the sensors hopefully did the trick, maybe... I took the cover off, everything seemed to be lined up properly, though I am not exactly sure what I am looking for to be "off"

I pressed all ends and cups and wires on tight, the worm gear is not stripped or misalligned that I can tell. Pressed button and no go, stopped about 3-6 inches every time.

Remembered the post about cleaning, so took some alcohol on rag and wiped them down, and next 5 pushes worked perfect! Then cleaning other door sensors, went to leave, and low and behold, it didn't work... tried again and it did...

So not sure if I just need to clean the sensors better with q-tip and cleaner or what. I will try q-tip next. Not sure if this is fixed or not, but getting better.

Did not check wires yet, that will be next after better cleaning.

[kingr]

I'm pretty sure it's your sensors. You moved them around enough when you were cleaning the lenses that it worked until the sensors moved. They aren't "perfect". When the garage door opener starts there's enough twist to get them out of line.

Push the button and then count how many times the opener light blinks/flashes.

This happened to me this winter. I thought it was just the frost moving things, but after my wife got on me about having to get out and use the keypad every time I opened up the manual and it showed me the light blink diagnostics. Sure enough, I moved the sensors around that I thought were lined up right, and cleaned the lenses and tightened the wing-nuts and bolts and it's worked since.

[upnorth]

Disconnect the door from the carriage and run it through a up and down cycle without the door attached. That will tell you if you have a binding issue or maybe things the optic sensors not lined up. If it goes up and down OK, might be binding or it could the pressure senor needs a little adjusting. If it doesn't go up and down you may have something with the optic sensors not aligned properly.

I have had to re adjust the pressure settings on my doors a couple times. I usually turn the pressure down til they fail then in very small increments back up to working.

I went back and re read your original post. I would also taking the door off the carriage and slowly run the door through the area where it stops. There may be a section of the track that is slightly off and with the new cables and different tension settings it may be giving just enough push back to set off the down sensor.

[Tom7227]

If all else fails and you have to put in a new opener be prepared for twice the time you think it would take. Mine went kaput and I bought the same brand/size. Well everything had to be reworked from the hangers all the way out to the header where it attached. A bit frustrating since I thought it was going to be a simple switch out.

[delcecchi]

If all else fails and you have to put in a new opener be prepared for twice the time you think it would take. Mine went kaput and I bought the same brand/size. Well everything had to be reworked from the hangers all the way out to the header where it attached. A bit frustrating since I thought it was going to be a simple switch out.

At least it isn't below zero like the last time I replaced mine.

[BoxMN]

Well I lucked out I think, and after cleaning with the alcohol and q-tip, it has been going up, and even better, going DOWN without a hitch. Who knew something that simple could do it! Well, "outdoors247" did, that's who

$7 for two new cables and $0.00 for some alcohol soaked q-tips! My kind of repair! Nice.

Thanks to all for the advice, Mama won't be leaving my garage open anymore

[outdoors247]

Sweet!! Glad I could help.

I had to reply after the exact same thing happening to me recently. I started just like you and inspected the travel parts and then looked at the sensors and determined that they were working. The next easiest thing was cleaning the sensors and that did it.

I assume I was my own enemy as I just had a bunch of mulch and black dirt in the driveway that I moved to the backyard. When I was finished I swept up the remains and I believe that's when all the dust covered the sensors. I know they had a good layer of film but the dust must have been the last straw.