Garage Door Opener Question



Question:
My garage door opener has started exhibiting some puzzling behavior: The garage is open. I press the close button. For the first couple of feet as the door closes the motor vibrates / shudders - it appears to be really struggling. I tried the following: I disengaged the door from the chain. I now manually close the door and open the door. I have no problem - it's quite smooth, not as if it's sticking or there is some kind of obstruction (I've also sprayed some wd-40 on the rails). With the door still disengaged I press the close / open button. The motor smoothly goes through motions. No shuddering. Only when the door is attached to the chain do we get the shuddering for about two feet after which motion is smooth. This is when the door is open and being shut. If shut and being opened all is smooth. The garage door opener is for a single door and came with the house built in 1984. Is the motor "dying". Any ideas as to what the problem could be? Thanks for replying.

Answer:
I had a similar problem. After some help from this newsgroup, and a little research in my Reader's Digest Guide to Home Repairs, I discovered I had 2 problems: 1. The rollers were out of whack and binding in the railing. This doesn't seem to be your problem since the door will open easily manually. 2. The springs, used to counterbalance the door, were no longer connected to the the door. I called a door guy, because I could not see where the springs had to be re-attached (the book had pictures, but of course I had a non- standard door). One way to test the opener is to disattach the door, and then run the opener. Is it working properly? Does the pully move up and down the line? Then perhaps its not broken and replacing it is just a waste of money.





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