One day or another, something is bound to go wrong with your garage door opener. Whether it’s that your garage door won’t open or close, or that your garage door won’t stay down, either way you will have to do some garage door opener troubleshooting. The two main parts of your garage door system that you need to look at when performing garage door opener troubleshooting are the lift system and the door mechanism.

The Garage Door Lift System

The lift system is basically just the actual door opener that includes the belt or chain that is ran by a motor. When troubleshooting, you first must make sure that you don’t merely need new batteries in your remotes. As easy as it sounds, this is often the #1 reason why a garage door opener isn’t working, and many people simply overlook it.

Next, make sure that you don’t need to just reprogram your remote. Different remotes are reprogrammed differently so check your operator’s manual for further instructions. Then, check and see if the chain or belt is too loose. If it is, you can tighten it up by following the instructions in your operator’s manual.

If none of these troubleshooting tips do the trick, you may need to call a professional to have a look at your opener. You may need to replace a gear or even a circuit board.

The Garage Door Mechanism

The door mechanism is the part of your garage door system that includes the tracks, springs, and hinged doors. It is pretty much the rest of your garage door system. When undertaking garage door opener troubleshooting, you may also need to look your door mechanism.

When troubleshooting, you should first check and see if any bolts or screws are loose on the tracks or doors. If so, tighten them all up or replace them, when needed. Next, make sure that the vertical tracks are completely level by checking them with a level. If they aren’t, adjust accordingly. The horizontal tracks that run overhead should also have the same measurement from the floor and should run parallel to each other. Finally check the tracks for any dents and fix them so your garage door can open and shut smoothly.

Other Garage Door Opener Troubleshooting Questions

Garage door opens or shuts by itself – With this issue, there is a small chance that someone else nearby is using the same program as you, so you may want to try to reprogram your remotes to a new program number. The reason that is more likely is that you have an electrical short somewhere. Check your opener, wall remote, and safety sensors for any loose wires.

Garage door closes fully and then opens back up again – When this happens, there are usually two reason why. The first one is that there is something on the ground or in the tracks that is causing the door to reopen. The second is that you need to adjust the close limit, which is normally found by the motor. If it’s not there, check your operator’s manual.

Garage door will not go down unless you hold down the main wall button in the garage – This usually means that one or both of your safety infrared sensors isn’t working properly or they are dirty. Try cleaning them with a clean cloth and try to close the garage door again. If this doesn’t work, you may need to check and see if each sensor has power to them, or replace them. How do I make my remote learn my program – Most door openers these days have a learn button on the back of the opener that you press, and then you press and hold your remote to program it. If your opener doesn’t have one of these buttons, then you should check your operator’s manual to see how to program your remotes.

Listed above were many garage door opener troubleshooting tips, so that you can easily troubleshoot and fix basic issues with your garage door openers. If things do get too complicated, don’t hesitate to call a professional to have a look at your system. They always know best.

Garage Door Opener Troubleshooting

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