# Garage door does not open (trolley stuck?)



## alu2007

Hi all,
My garage door started misbehaving and finally stopped opening. The other day I closed the garage door but it opened up right away after closing.  After a couple of attempts it stopped opening altogether.
When I press the opener on the wall the chain just shakes /rattles and gives up.

I have detached the door from the trolley and am manually lifting up the door to get the cars out. The gear and sprocket looks fine. But I changed it out just to be sure but same behavior

If I disconnect the chain the motor rotates fine.

But if I connect the chain back (door still disengaged) all it does is the chain tightens up very hard but the trolley does not budge.

The trolley is on garage door end (not on the opener end). I disconnected the chain and pressed the wall switch to make sure the gear rotated clockwise so that it would be as if garage door was closed. With the garage door still disengaged, I connected the chain back and pressed the button on the wall to see if the trolley would reverse. Motor just hums and chain tightens up but trolley does not move towards garage opener side.

I am not sure what is preventing the trolley from moving. I would assume the trolley would move from door end to opener end easily with the garage door disengaged

Any idea what I should check for ? Should I increase the limits or the force?


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## WindowsonWashington

Have you opened the cover on the machine yet? 

Most have a plastic gear inside of them that fails and is easily serviceable.


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## alu2007

WindowsonWashington said:


> Have you opened the cover on the machine yet?
> 
> Most have a plastic gear inside of them that fails and is easily serviceable.


Thanks. I changed the gear and sprocket if that is what you mean. It did not fix the problem though.


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## WindowsonWashington

Can you check the voltage at the motor and see if it is within range?

Any chance the opening/closing force setting got bumped out of whack?


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## alu2007

WindowsonWashington said:


> Can you check the voltage at the motor and see if it is within range?
> 
> Any chance the opening/closing force setting got bumped out of whack?


 

I have been trying it this afternoon. With chain disconnected the motor moves. With chain connected (garage door is disengaged), the motor just hums and the chain on one side tightens up.

I did not change the opening /closing force. 

How do I check voltage at the motor and what is the expected range.


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## alu2007

Hi all,
Restating the problem..&#61607; 

Problem:
Trolley is on door side. Not against stop bolt on the opener side. Garage door no longer opens

 What I have tried so far:

&#61607; 
Replaced gear and sprocket. It did not make a difference
Removed chain from gear. Disconnected garage door. Motor turns fine clockwise and anticlockwise with chain removed
Connect chain. Garage still door disconnected. Press wall switch to open. Chain tightens on one side but trolley does not reverse. The other side of the chain is loose. But one side is really tight
With chain tight on one side, try one more time. Just a small buzz and GDO blinks 5 times and does that over and over. No movement
I have not changed the limits or the force.



From what I have read, it appears that the problem can be any of the following
- Limits or Force out of adjustment
- Starting capacitor
- RPM sensor
- Bad logic board or a cold solder on the logic board
- Gear and Sprocket

 Can anyone guide me on the next step to troubleshoot. I already bought the gear and sprocket but it did not fix the problem. I want to avoid buying the capacitor, RPM sensor or logic board.

Thanks


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## WindowsonWashington

I am sorry, but you are beyond my garage door knowledge so far.

I posted a link to this thread to see if I could get FirehawkMike to post on this as he knows his stuff very well.

If you want to PM me your email, I can have him email you as well.


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## alu2007

WindowsonWashington said:


> I am sorry, but you are beyond my garage door knowledge so far.
> 
> I posted a link to this thread to see if I could get FirehawkMike to post on this as he knows his stuff very well.
> 
> If you want to PM me your email, I can have him email you as well.


 

Hi WindowsonWashington,
I sent you a PM with my email address in case FirehawkMike can provide any insight. Thanks again for your help


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## WindowsonWashington

I pm'ed him on the other board and I did get your message.

He hasn't been on the other board much of late as I am sure he is busy with work.  

Hopefully he pops in and sees about making some recommendations.  He is really good with the garage door, amongst other, stuff.


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## firehawkmph

Alu,
what kind of opener is it, and can you post some pics? Your binding up problem sounds pretty strange. I'm just wondering with having the chain off, sprocket and gear changes, etc., things got out of sync as to where the chain is and where the opener thinks it is. When you disconnect the chain from the sprocket on the motorhead, does the trolley move freely on the rail, and also, if you take the chain all the way off, does the sprocket or pulley at the door end of the rail turn freely? How old is the opener?
Mike Hawkins


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## alu2007

firehawkmph said:


> Alu,
> what kind of opener is it, and can you post some pics? Your binding up problem sounds pretty strange. I'm just wondering with having the chain off, sprocket and gear changes, etc., things got out of sync as to where the chain is and where the opener thinks it is. When you disconnect the chain from the sprocket on the motorhead, does the trolley move freely on the rail, and also, if you take the chain all the way off, does the sprocket or pulley at the door end of the rail turn freely? How old is the opener?
> Mike Hawkins


 

It is a liftmaster 1/3 HP about 13 years old. I did not change the position of the trolley when I changed the gear/sprocket . I will post pictures and videos later in the day. I have to get them off the camera. With the chain off, the trolley moves freely. One thing I noticed is that I am not able to  turn the sprocket on the motorhead with the chain off. Should that turn as well ? With the chain off, the motor and gear/sprocket rotates fine when I press the wall switch. It rotates clockwise and anticlockwise. But I cant rotate it by hand with the chain off. Should it rotate by hand as well ?

Thanks


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## WindowsonWashington

Look at Mike swooping in off the top rope.


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## firehawkmph

Alu,
you won't be able to turn the gear on the motorhead by hand. If the trolley moves freely with the chain off, and the motor turns fine with no load, try turning up the force buttons. The button should rotate almost a full turn, not quite. There should be a little arrow which shows which way to turn to increase force (clockwise). If no arrow, there may be numbers from 0 to 9 or something like that. Let me know where it is now and then turn it up some more and see if that gets it to lift the door. If after turning force up all the way the door still doesn't lift, you may have a worn out clutch. If that's the case, replace the opener. Let me know what happens. Also, did you say you just replaced the gear on the motorhead, or went inside and replaced the inside drive gears?
Mike Hawkins


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## alu2007

firehawkmph said:


> Alu,
> you won't be able to turn the gear on the motorhead by hand. If the trolley moves freely with the chain off, and the motor turns fine with no load, try turning up the force buttons. The button should rotate almost a full turn, not quite. There should be a little arrow which shows which way to turn to increase force (clockwise). If no arrow, there may be numbers from 0 to 9 or something like that. Let me know where it is now and then turn it up some more and see if that gets it to lift the door. If after turning force up all the way the door still doesn't lift, you may have a worn out clutch. If that's the case, replace the opener. Let me know what happens. Also, did you say you just replaced the gear on the motorhead, or went inside and replaced the inside drive gears?
> Mike Hawkins


 
Hi Mike,
I replaced the gear and sprocket on the motor head. It is the part in the middle at this link. I did not replace the worm gear
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00023RTD6/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

The garage door has been disengaged from the trolley by pulling the red string. So, basically the opener is turning with the chain removed and garage door disengaged. But once I put the chain back on, garage door is still disengaged, there seems to be not enough torque to rotate the chain. 
I am trying to post pictures


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## alu2007

Videos added.

Trolley moves fine with chain removed off the motorhead
[ame="http://youtu.be/lOXXnectGC8"]http://youtu.be/lOXXnectGC8[/ame]

Gear and Sprocket/Motor rotates fine with chain removed. This is how I understand it. When looking from below, if gear rotates anti-clockwise then garage door is opening. Clockwise means garage door is closing. 
[ame="http://youtu.be/qn6JszP1hS0"]http://youtu.be/qn6JszP1hS0[/ame]

I made sure that the motor rotated clockwise i.e. garage door in closed position before trying to open the door. Trolley is on garage door end. Note garage door is not connected to trolley i.e. no load from garage door. The chain is hanging loose (lot of slack). Next press wall switch to open the door. and you see the opener tries to start but something prevents it from rotating and the chain just tightens up really hard on one side. Other side still has a slack. Either there is not enough torque or something else that prevents the chain from moving. Chain tightens up on one side. Then press wall switch again. Just get a buzz and 5 blinks. ..

http://youtu.be/-qgSZ5P4SsU


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## firehawkmph

In your first video, where it shows you moving the trolley back by hand, where is your adjustment bolt that hooks up the other end of the chain to the hole in the trolley? That needs to be there and  properly tensioned so that the chain doesn't droop enough to hit the steel track. 
Mike Hawkins


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## nealtw

Have the springs been checked?


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## alu2007

firehawkmph said:


> In your first video, where it shows you moving the trolley back by hand, where is your adjustment bolt that hooks up the other end of the chain to the hole in the trolley? That needs to be there and  properly tensioned so that the chain doesn't droop enough to hit the steel track.
> Mike Hawkins


 
The adjustment bolt is there...I have attached a photo. When I shot that video with my phone it was initially inverted and I had to rotate it to straighten it out. So I dont know what happened there.

But video # 3 is what puzzles me. With the chain loose (droop), and pressing the wall switch, I would still expect the trolley to reverse since there is no load (garage door is disengaged). However, the opener attempts to start and the chain on one side tightens up. Other side is still drooping. It is as if something in the motor or gear is locking up or does not have enough juice to rotate it


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## alu2007

nealtw said:


> Have the springs been checked?


 
I have the garage door disconnected from the trolley. Do the springs still get used when the door is disconnected. I am still learning things


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## nealtw

alu2007 said:


> I have the garage door disconnected from the trolley. Do the springs still get used when the door is disconnected. I am still learning things


 
No, I hadn't read all the post, sorry!


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## alu2007

nealtw said:


> No, I hadn't read all the post, sorry!


 

No problem. Thanks for trying to help.. It is just a confusing problem.


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## nealtw

The capacitor should be tested but I'll leave the instructions for that to someone else.


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## alu2007

nealtw said:


> The capacitor should be tested but I'll leave the instructions for that to someone else.


 

Thanks nealtw. I will check it out


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## firehawkmph

alu2007 said:


> The adjustment bolt is there...I have attached a photo. When I shot that video with my phone it was initially inverted and I had to rotate it to straighten it out. So I dont know what happened there.
> 
> But video # 3 is what puzzles me. With the chain loose (droop), and pressing the wall switch, I would still expect the trolley to reverse since there is no load (garage door is disengaged). However, the opener attempts to start and the chain on one side tightens up. Other side is still drooping. It is as if something in the motor or gear is locking up or does not have enough juice to rotate it


 Looking at this pic, which side of the chain gets tight when you hit the button? The side in the pic that is attached to the adjustment bolt should be the side tightening up, pulling the trolley back towards the opener head. If the other side is tighening up, then the chain position and the opener are out of sync. 
Mike Hawkins


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## alu2007

Yes the side with the adjustment bolt tightens. So basically should I remove the chain and let the motor run without the chain until it hits the other end of the limt and then put the chain back and try. 

I ordered the capacitor but based on what you said, it appears that it may be an out of sync issue. The original capacitor had no visible signs of failure and seemed to show change in resistance per some test instructions I read eleswhere. I ordered it in any case though.


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## nealtw

It would make sence that it may be pulling the wrong direction.


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## firehawkmph

This is quite puzzling. The side with the adjustment bolt in the pic should be the one to tighten. By that I mean the chain should be pulling the adjustment bolt side of the trolley towards the opener. If it is trying to pull it in the other direction, then I would take the chain off and cycle the opener once and put it back on.  Someone else mentioned the capicitor. When they go, you'll usually see a puff of smoke come out of the motorhead, and then the motor won't start after that. You'll just get a click sound with no motion. You may have something more internal going on, worn clutch, bad motherboard, etc. May be time for a new opener. What happens when you hit the button and the chain tightens up, does the motor shut off when everything gets tight, or does it reverse itself and start turning in the other direction?
Mike Hawkins


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## alu2007

The gears rotate fine with the chain off. They rotate completely clockwise and anticlockwise and hit the limit switches as in the first video

With the chain on and with some slack, when I press the wall switch the chain tightens up (the side opposite the adjustment bolt)

When I press the wall switch a second, third time, it just clicks and light on the GDO starts blinking 5 times and repeats over and over. It does not reverse.

The first and second attempt are in the second video.

Thx


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## alu2007

http://youtu.be/-qgSZ5P4SsU


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## firehawkmph

Alu,
after watching the videos again, here's what we know:
1: with the chain disconnected from the motorhead sprocket, the chain moves the trolley by hand in both directions freely. 
2: With the chain disconnected from the motorhead, the motorhead cycles back and forth ok.
3: In the last video you posted the youtube link for, the chain that tightens up and stops is the wrong side. It's trying to pull the trolley into the garage door, which won't happen, so the chain just tightens up and stops.
4: It is definitely 180 degrees out of sync as far as the chain is concerned. 

If you were to disconnect the chain off the motorhead sprocket, slide the trolley back up to the motorhead and then reconnect the chain, when you hit the button, the chain on the right side of the track as pictured in your last video should be doing the pulling and the trolley should move towards the garage door. Next time you hit the button, the chain should reverse direction and the trolley should move back towards the motorhead. 
     At this point, if it is working now, reconnect the door and check its travel limits in both directions. You should be pretty close and adjustments can be made with the two little white plastic screws that are marked with an arrow on each one, one pointing towards the door in the up position, and one pointing down for the door in the down position. By turning either screw in the direction of the arrow, you will either let the door travel up more, or down more, depending on which screw you turn.
Mike Hawkins


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## nealtw

It looks like it is trying to close the door, so are you sure you are going the right direction? It looks like you could disconnect the chain and run the motor once putting it in the closed position and rehook the chain, so the motor will pull it toward the open position.


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## alu2007

Thanks Mike and nealtw. I will give this a try tomorrow (Friday) and post back. Have been opening and closing the garage door manually for the past two weeks.


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## alu2007

Thank you guys. That was the issue with the trolley. It was out of sync. The trolley moves now..but now seems like it is a limit issue. On the opener end the trolley stops much before it hits the stop bolt. On the garage door end it hits the stop bolt  hard and then reverses. I assume now I have to play with the limits? I'll post a video


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## WindowsonWashington

Told you Mike would know.


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## firehawkmph

Alu,
the door is traveling too far in the down position. Find the adjustment screw on the side or back that shows a little picture of the door going down and see which way the arrow in the picture is telling you to turn it. If you turn it in the opposite direction, the door will not travel down so far. Try about a half turn at a time. Run the door down and get it to where it just stops short of closing. Now turn the screw the other direction 1/8 of a turn at a time till the door seats nicely. On the other end, when the door goes up, it is NOT supposed to hit the bolt just in front of the motor head. If it is, then it is travelling too far. The adjustment screw for the door going up will have a pic of the door almost in the up position with an arrow pointing in one direction. Turn the screw in the opposite direction the arrow shows to stop the door from traveling so far in the up position. It should stop short of the bolt. You should be checking the bottom of the door when the door is in the up position to see where it is at in the opening. Normally it will be hanging about 1 1/2 - 2" from the top of the opening. The only time it needs to be higher than this is if you really need the extra clearance because you have a tall vehicle. Try the adjustments and see if you can get it dialed in. Now, one more thing, don't operate the door for more than 6 to 8 cycles without stopping and giving it a rest. Electrical parts get warm inside and you don't want to fry your starting capacitor. They only put so much smoke in at the factory, and if you let it all out, it won't work anymore.
Mike Hawkins


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## alu2007

WindowsonWashington said:


> Told you Mike would know.


 Thanks WindowsonWashington! I have been trying to play with the limit switches now


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## alu2007

firehawkmph said:


> Alu,
> the door is traveling too far in the down position. Find the adjustment screw on the side or back that shows a little picture of the door going down and see which way the arrow in the picture is telling you to turn it. If you turn it in the opposite direction, the door will not travel down so far. Try about a half turn at a time. Run the door down and get it to where it just stops short of closing. Now turn the screw the other direction 1/8 of a turn at a time till the door seats nicely. On the other end, when the door goes up, it is NOT supposed to hit the bolt just in front of the motor head. If it is, then it is travelling too far. The adjustment screw for the door going up will have a pic of the door almost in the up position with an arrow pointing in one direction. Turn the screw in the opposite direction the arrow shows to stop the door from traveling so far in the up position. It should stop short of the bolt. You should be checking the bottom of the door when the door is in the up position to see where it is at in the opening. Normally it will be hanging about 1 1/2 - 2" from the top of the opening. The only time it needs to be higher than this is if you really need the extra clearance because you have a tall vehicle. Try the adjustments and see if you can get it dialed in. Now, one more thing, don't operate the door for more than 6 to 8 cycles without stopping and giving it a rest. Electrical parts get warm inside and you don't want to fry your starting capacitor. They only put so much smoke in at the factory, and if you let it all out, it won't work anymore.
> Mike Hawkins


 

Hi Mike,
As you indicated, I have been trying to adjust the limit switches with just the trolley (i.e the door is not connected). . I was able to decrease the down travel limits to position the trolley  above the latch which hooks into the garage door. I adjusted the up travel to move the trolley closer to the opener end. However, I find that on each cycle the travel doesnt stay the same. It keeps  keeps shifting actually, i.e the trolley moves further in the down direction and the up limit also shifts away from the garage door. On the third cycle it shifts further down and hits the stop bolt on the garage door side and then the trolley reverses.  But this time the up travel is only a few inches. There seems to be something going on with the limit switches. However, I dont see any visible issue with the limits contacts. I tried most of the day. Will continue tomorrow and see what else I can find.

Thanks,
Alu


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## alu2007

alu2007 said:


> Hi Mike,
> As you indicated, I have been trying to adjust the limit switches with just the trolley (i.e the door is not connected). . I was able to decrease the down travel limits to position the trolley  above the latch which hooks into the garage door. I adjusted the up travel to move the trolley closer to the opener end. However, I find that on each cycle the travel doesnt stay the same. It keeps  keeps shifting actually, i.e the trolley moves further in the down direction and the up limit also shifts away from the garage door. On the third cycle it shifts further down and hits the stop bolt on the garage door side and then the trolley reverses.  But this time the up travel is only a few inches. There seems to be something going on with the limit switches. However, I dont see any visible issue with the limits contacts. I tried most of the day. Will continue tomorrow and see what else I can find.
> 
> Thanks,
> Alu


 

I am trying again this morning. Will post back results


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## firehawkmph

Alu,
you should be adjusting the limits with the door hooked up. Never tried to do that without the door being attached. Hard to say exactly what the problem is because I haven't seen what you are doing. 
Mike Hawkins


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## alu2007

Hi Mike,

I think I finally got the limits to work. I was having problems to get the limits to stay. I think it is probably because the garage door is not balanced and may be causing too much drag on the limits.  I am going to get the door balanced and post back. For now after a couple of attempts the garage door is connected and limits are holding up. Thanks again for your help. I will post back with more info once door is balanced.

Thanks,
Alu


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## alu2007

alu2007 said:


> Hi Mike,
> 
> I think I finally got the limits to work. I was having problems to get the limits to stay. I think it is probably because the garage door is not balanced and may be causing too much drag on the limits.  I am going to get the door balanced and post back. For now after a couple of attempts the garage door is connected and limits are holding up. Thanks again for your help. I will post back with more info once door is balanced.
> 
> Thanks,
> Alu


 

Hi all,
Posting back as promised. I had to get a garage door guy to get my door balanced. However, we found that the limits kept changing each time the garage door was closed or opened. So we looked opened the box and inspected the gear assembly again. We found that the issue with the limit switch was due to a wear out of the bushing (photo attached) on the gear shaft. If you look closely the bushing  hole has become oval. Due to this, the lower (small) drive gear was rotating extra turns, causing the limits to go out of whack. Once this bushing was replaced, the limits issue was fixed.


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## firehawkmph

So everything is working well now?
Mike Hawkins


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## alu2007

firehawkmph said:


> So everything is working well now?
> Mike Hawkins


 

Yes it is. Thanks


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## northmetrogarage

I know this is an old post but this is pretty much the solution.  When the trolley jams either at the door end or head unit end it is something to do with the limits.  Sometimes the limit assembly will skip over the contact to stop opening or closing and that causes a huge mess of issues but usually you can take the assembly apart a little and get everything back to where you need it.  Sometimes the little gear that moves the limit switch back and forth loses contact with the gear at the bottom of the gear and sprocket assembly. I have had to wedge a folded up piece of paper or cardboard in there to get the contact to remain consistent a few times. If anyone has any questions about garage door stuff feel free to post and hope I see it or just send me a message.


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## slownsteady

Welcome NMG (I'm not gonna spell it out). Good to have someone with knowledge on board.


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## northmetrogarage

I will try to be available as much as possible.


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