How to Maintain Your Electric Garage Door
For your convenience and safety, frequently test and maintain your door and opener. Make any needed repairs immediately or deactivate the opener until you can. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Screwdriver
- Soft Brush
- Switch Wire
- Oiling Can And Light Oil
- 2-by-4
- Rags
- Socket And/or Open-end Wrenches
- Automotive Degreaser
- Wire Or Metal Tool
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Instructions
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Check the door's operation
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Disengage the opener for manual door operation.
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Check the door's balance (see How to Fix Garage-Door Tension) and test it for smooth operation.
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Straighten misaligned tracks: Loosen the screws that secure track brackets to the opening, or the bolts that secure tracks to brackets. Adjust the bracket or track. Then tighten the fasteners to lock the track into place.
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Clean the tracks with a soft brush or rag. They shouldn't be greasy. Spray on an automotive degreaser and wipe them clean with a rag.
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Clean and then lubricate roller-wheel bearings and axles or hinge pins with garage door lubricant (available at home stores).
Test and adjust the safety reverse
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Open the door.
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Place a 2-by-4 on the floor in the center of the door opening, then activate the door.
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If the door does not reverse when it hits the board, adjust the close limit per your owner's manual.
Troubleshoot a photocell system
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Attempt to reset the system. Shut off and then restore power to the opener, either at the house's circuit-breaker panel or at the opener's plug.
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Visually inspect the wiring between the opener and the photocell modules for damage or loose connections.
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Use a voltmeter to check the wiring for continuity (see How to Troubleshoot Electrical Problems )if you can't see any loose or damaged connections
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If the wiring is good, either the modules or the main sequencer board in the opener are defective and need to be replaced. Check your Yellow pages under "Garage Door Openers" to find the needed parts.
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Tips & Warnings
Tracks should be lubricated only with a lubricant designed specially for garage doors. Other lubricants will hold dirt.
Install the receiving sensor for a photocell system on the side least likely to have direct sun.
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Comments
View all 37 Comments-
My husband insists we pull red safety cord on our automatic garage door openers, and shut them manually. He says this saves the motor. Is that true, and how does that affect the auto system?
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ollie24
Jun 07, 2010
A rodent chewed the wiring on my garage door openers next to the sensors. I've tried to splice and tape up wires but doors won't open or close completely unless I hold the inside wall button. I did troubleshooting the obvious. Any suggestions? -
terrycurley
Dec 28, 2009
Probably somebody has the same code in their opener as you have. Try changing your code in the opener and the remote to see if this solves the problem.
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newbiehomeowner
Feb 11, 2009
I have a 3 car garage with a smaller door on the left and a 2-car wide door on the right. While the 1 car door works fine with the remote as well as the wall switch, the two car door opens only with the wall switch and the remote does not work on normal days. We put new batteries but still the same. But on rainy days, the remote also works fine. Any idea what could be the problem? Also, any suggestions as to how I can fix this? thanx
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newbiehomeowner
Feb 11, 2009
I have a 3 car garage with a smaller door on the left and a 2-car wide door on the right. While the 1 car door works fine with the remote as well as the wall switch, the two car door opens only with the wall switch and the remote does not work on normal days. We put new batteries but still the same. But on rainy days, the remote also works fine. Any idea what could be the problem? Also, any suggestions as to how I can fix this? thanx
