OT - garage door opener problems

I have a 1/2 HP Craftsman opener that is not working. The door will close, but then opens up. It acts like something is under the door, but it is all clear. Nothing between the light beams. When I unhook the door and let the chain and carrier move without the door it does the same thing, keeps coming up instead of staying down. Any help?

Sounds like you need to adjust the sensitivity. Cold weather makes the concrete change under your door seal and it senses the high point not making the door close.

That is what I suspected, but it does the same thing if the door is connected or not. The chain and carrier by itself will not stay in the down position.

It sounds like the seal on the bottom of you door has hardened with the temperature. You could either crank up the force or back off the closed limit. I recently replaced my seal with the ultraseal from Summit Racing and raised the temp in my garage 20 degrees. The old seal had hardened and did not allow the door to close tight and seal at the top.

Aaron

So it is powering out against the overtravel stop before it hits the closed limit switch...

Hmmm....

Have you tried adjusting the closed limit? One turn equals 3 inches of door travel per the Sears website.

Aaron

You need to check the light beams even tho they seem to be OK. Get your manual and adjust them.

Grab a step ladder and pull on the opener as it comes to the closed position--door unhooked.

It it travels the total length, you then can look for some obstruction / binding.

Don't ovrlook the plastic gear in the rear of the opener, it could be climbing the speocket enough to make it pull / push hard.

If you live in the cold climate, the grease on the opener gets thick, and pulls harder than normal.

I would not suspect the eyes at this point, as you said it does go down most of the way.

Dito on what Herbert said about the sensor alignment. The fact that it does the same thing when the door is unhooked suggests it is the light sensor not the door.

I had the same problem earlier this week on a Sears opener. Adjusted every knob on it and no change. I finally looked at the sensor and it was way out of alignment. Straightened the sensor and the opener worked right again. It took a while to get all the knobs back to a good setup again.

Good luck.

Dito on what Herbert said about the sensor alignment. The fact that it does the same thing when the door is unhooked suggests it is the light sensor not the door.

I had the same problem earlier this week on a Sears opener. Adjusted every knob on it and no change. I finally looked at the sensor and it was way out of alignment. Straightened the sensor and the opener worked right again. It took a while to get all the knobs back to a good setup again.

Good luck.

A friend had a similar problem and under CLOSE inspection I found one if the wires broken off at the connector at the light bean sensor just off of the floor.

Sounds like you have a output or receiver light out of adjustment,or one bad,same problem that I had,good luck

We have 3 of those door openers around here..

2 work well, and have all along..

1 worked well for a while, and since some dummy *raises hand* backed into the door, it's worse than it used to be..

Before I get asked why the door was backed into, I was backing our nurse tank trailer in.. waited for the door to go up, and when it got up, it started back down.. I met the door with the rear top of the tank.. I didn't notice the door opener had decided it wanted to be closed. After the fact, my dad says.. "Ya, the opener's been screwy for a while now.. I never got around to lookin into it".. GOOD THING huh??

Since then, the problems have gotten worse, but it usually does the same as you are describing as well as closing on it's own on a regular basis.

FWIW, There's still a ongoing argument around here.. Dad wants to put one of those worthless openers on the shop.. Every time he starts, I point at the bent door.. and remind him what a opener does, and explain that the day we're not physically able to open the door we'll talk about a opener.

I know my story really don't lead to a solution, just figured I could relate with your scenario.

Brad

The chain may have jumped a tooth or two, throwing the adjustment out of whack. Mine does this every so often, but it always does it in the up direction so the traveler hits the up stop.

tried every adjustment on it but no fix. Manual says that if it does this and the opener light blinks 5 times the sensor is at fault. The sensors are lit, meaning that they are aligned properly. Any other ideas?

Chain might be to loose. check it.