Garage door stops.... (what's solution?)

[caseycasebeer]

For about the last year, maybe somewhat less, our garage door stops going down about 1/3 of the time. Occasionally it will 'stop two or three times in a row before it completely closes. :swear:

I've inspected the chain, the runners, the automatic(safety) eye at floor level, and can find nothing visibly wrong.

Any suggestions or ideas? (My next step will probably be an expensive call to the garage-door-guy.)

Thx,
Casey

[Biker Dog]

We had the same problem and it was the safety eyes must have been bumped and the alignment was off.. I realigned the eyes and all is well and working correctly.

Worth a try before you call a service tech.

[HMLRHT1]

Check the wiring to the sensors and check to see if the sun light is interfering with the beam. We had that happen to us in AZ during certain times of the year and certain times of the day.

[VillagerFrog58]

Another thing to try is to adjust the sensitivity force. On the top of the garage door opener (assuming that you have the standard MVP garage door opener that the developer put in), there are 2 adjustment screws. One is for adjusting the torque for opening the door, the other is for closing the door. It may be that you are right on the edge and they didn't adjust the garage door properly. From the MVP manual it says. "Adjusting the Sensitivity Force — Sensitivity System force adjustment screws are located on the side rails of the Power Unit and can easily be adjusted with a screwdriver. Turn the screws CLOCKWISE for more force and COUNTERCLOCKWISE for less force." If you don't have the manual, you can google MVP and get the manual on-line off their website. That's what I did. If I was down there, I'd stop over and take a look for you... being the ex-engineer that I am, I love tinkering on this stuff.

[VillagerFrog58]

Another thing to CaseyCaseBeer. When you said it stops, I assumed that it started closing and then stopped and opened back up and the light on the garage opener door blinks. If this happens, then it "thinks" that something is wrong. Either the sensor beam is getting blocked OR it thinks that door is pressing on something, thus, that's why I recommended the sensitivity adjustment. If the door starts to close and just STOPS, part-way down and the garage door opener light does not blink, then this is something totally different. If this latter is what happens, then let us know. Also if the latter is what is happening, does it happen when you are using the panel mounted on the wall or your car remotes?

[SouthOfTheBorder]

Another thing to try is to adjust the sensitivity force. On the top of the garage door opener (assuming that you have the standard MVP garage door opener that the developer put in), there are 2 adjustment screws. One is for adjusting the torque for opening the door, the other is for closing the door. It may be that you are right on the edge and they didn't adjust the garage door properly. From the MVP manual it says. "Adjusting the Sensitivity Force — Sensitivity System force adjustment screws are located on the side rails of the Power Unit and can easily be adjusted with a screwdriver. Turn the screws CLOCKWISE for more force and COUNTERCLOCKWISE for less force." If you don't have the manual, you can google MVP and get the manual on-line off their website. That's what I did. If I was down there, I'd stop over and take a look for you... being the ex-engineer that I am, I love tinkering on this stuff.

If it stops and does not move, as ours did, this is the solution. We have no issues once adjusted as described above.

Don

[caseycasebeer]

Thanks everyone.

The door occasionally stops with both the wall mounted controller as well as the car unit.

I have some items to check.

Thanks!
Casey

[philnpat]

Try unlatching the door with the pull rope.
Exercise the door up and down a few times and try to detect any binding.
If binding is felt, correct the cause. If no binding is felt do as suggested and adjust the sensitivity.
Before you try any of these tips, wipe the floor mounted sensors with a tissue. Mine looked fine but doing this once fixed it for me.
Also...if it makes it down almost the way and reverses, make sure the yellow nylon rope (used to lift the door manually) is tucked behind the ribbing. If it's hanging down it will break the sensor beam when the door is closing.

[BobnBev]

Lowes sells garage door lube. Should be done at least once a year, sooner in dusty conditions. Give the track and the wheels a good lubing.

[villagetinker]

I agree with BobnBev, in the past I used WD40, however, in another thread, it was suggested that you use "garage door lube". I have found different view points, but going forward, I will go with the garage door lube.

[Sail41]

Lowes sells garage door lube. Should be done at least once a year, sooner in dusty conditions. Give the track and the wheels a good lubing.

Save a little money, Ryan from Garage Doors, Inc gave me the secret. The best lube fore the rollers, chain and rails is PAM spray twice a year. Works Great!

[Sparty6971]

I had the same problem a few years ago and yes the safety light sensors had been "kicked" by a broom and being out of adjustment told the opener that something was in the way of the door, so it stops the door and (usually) then causes it to go back up, stop, and the opener light blinks several times.

It did it again this week but nothing was wrong with the adjustment or lube of anything. BTW, don't lube the rail at the top of the garage ceiling for the chain "shoe" to run on. Most of them should NOT be lubed.

Anyway, I finally found that the wire connection of the safety sensor was not really a solid connection. The wires were only lightly twisted together and held together by the infamous black plastic tape. The tape had come loose and the wires were then intermittently disconnected. No connection or intermittent connection is another signal to the opener that something is wrong, and possibly dangerously wrong so it needs to stop before it closes totally, then tells the unit to open the door completely.

Check your wire connections. If they are connected but have that good old black tape over the connection, remove the old tape, secure the wires TIGHTLY and then apply new tape to protect the connections. That may well resolve your problem.

[mulligan]

actually, the best fix for the loose wires is to apply a wire nut and then the tape to keep the nut from loosening.

[villagetinker]

I ran into a similar problem where during the installation, someone twisted together the solid copper wires. These later failed with a high resistance connection. I have many years of experience with wiring (former electrical engineer), and the best way to connect SMALL SOLID copper wires are soldering, or crimped connections. Wire nuts typically are not designed for the #22 wire used in these systems.
PS the problem at my house was under warranty, and caused several trips for the repairman before the splice was found hidden under the insulation. Warranty, had new wiring installed to fix this.
I hope the above information helps.

[TheVillageChicken]

Lowes sells garage door lube. Should be done at least once a year, sooner in dusty conditions. Give the track and the wheels a good lubing.

Only lube the bearings on the wheels (rollers). They are meant to roll, not slide.
NEVER lube the tracks or the wheels themselves.