Stanley garage door opener misbehaving

[Curt Harms]

We have a Stanley screw-type garage door opener installed around 1997 so it doesn't owe us anything. It opens perfectly, no issues. Closing is an issue. If i push and immediately release one of the buttons (there are two) the door may close a few inches and usually just stops. Push the botton again and it'll open all the way unless I push the button again to stop it. If I push and hold the button the door will close all the way. My first though was the photo beam but I can stop the door from opening all the way by pushing the button. In the past if the door reverses due to an obstruction, it would open all the way. I could get universal photo beam replacements but would like to verify that is indeed the problem first. I thought about jumpering the wires from the photo beam to the operating head long enough to confirm or eliminate but not sure how. Does anyone have a thought? Thanks for any input.

[Lee DeRaud]

Unless it's grossly miss-wired, the photo beam should make a closing door reverse and will do nothing to an opening door. Your symptoms sound more like a force sensor tripping intermittently: possibly the door is opening a few inches too far and hanging up at the start of the close cycle. I'd unhook the opener and see how much force is required to open/close the door manually, could just need a spring adjustment/replacement.

Or the poor bugger is just way overdue for replacement.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I am not sure if you model has indicator lights on the photo eye and laser. Modern ones show a green light when they are aligned. They are the first thing I check. 2nd I pull the disconnect cord and try the door without the opener and vice versa. If both work smoothly I reconnect the door to the trolly and experiment with the travel and force adjustments. Some old openers become very finicky.

[Tom M King]

You can buy replacement parts for garage doors in Lowes. There are two in our rental house that weren't working when we bought the house. I replaced all the rollers on both doors because neither operated easily. I had to replace 1 out of 4 of the springs. I put those replacement parts in when I remounted the doors after having them down to revarnish.

I bought one OE remote, and one aftermarket. The aftermarket one never worked right, but the original equipment one did, so I ordered another one of those. In the drawers in that garage I found two wall mount keyboards, and both of those worked. I mounted them on the outside door jambs for renters to use.

One opener was from the late 90's, and the other 2003. They both work fine now. I did pull the wires out of the flimsy sockets on the motor head, and put some conductive grease in them, and had to reset the eyes to communicate.

I was about to toss both of them to start with, but they have not stuttered since I did that simple work on them.

[Todd Trebuna]

My door had this same problem. The wall switch turned out to be the culprit. Mine is 3 years younger than yours. :)

[Curt Harms]

Lots of good things to check here, thanks to everyone. I'll report back if I'm able to solve the mystery. It's not urgent because I am able to close the door by holding the switch but closing with a remote doesn't work. It'd be nice if things work as they're supposed to.

[Ron Selzer]

. It's not urgent because I am able to close the door by holding the switch but closing with a remote doesn't work. .

photo eye or force adjustment
holding the button down is an override of the safety circuit, making you the safety circuit
mine does this when it is open more than a few minutes and it is 0 degf or colder outside

[Jim Becker]

If you decide to replace, Des-Carr is excellent, Curt. They provide the Liftmaster products. I had them replace the 1993 era Craftsman traditional chain opener when it failed shortly after we moved in with the Liftmaster jackshaft unit. Between that exchange and the tweaking and lubrication of our door, it's super quiet in operation and since it's monitored, you can ascertain if it's open or closed remotely.

BTW, if you have to physically hold the close switch in to get it to close, the optic safety system is likely toast. That's what happened with the aforementioned Craftsman unit. Pressing and holding the switch overrides the safety system.

[Tom M King]

The little wires from the safety eyes just push in the holes on the unit, and contact is just friction against a little metal spring blade. Sorrier even than back-stab electrical receptacles. I slid a straight pick slightly larger diameter than the wire into each socket, and withdrew the wire. The pick was strong enough to just slide back out. I put conductive grease on each wire after abrading the wire a little, and what was intermittent works every time now.

I used conductive grease rather than di-electric grease because the contact area is so small that I figured it needed as much help as possible. The conductive grease I have has carbon in it, and will get black smear easily on anything unless you are very careful.

It's a wonder to me that these connections last as long as they do.

[Alex Zeller]

The quickest test would be to block the beam. All the ones I have seen will flash the interior light to indicate that the beam is blocked if you push the button to close it. An older one may not do that though.

[Tom M King]

The two older ones here don't give any indication, other than stopping, or going the other way.

[Curt Harms]

The little wires from the safety eyes just push in the holes on the unit, and contact is just friction against a little metal spring blade. Sorrier even than back-stab electrical receptacles. I slid a straight pick slightly larger diameter than the wire into each socket, and withdrew the wire. The pick was strong enough to just slide back out. I put conductive grease on each wire after abrading the wire a little, and what was intermittent works every time now.

I used conductive grease rather than di-electric grease because the contact area is so small that I figured it needed as much help as possible. The conductive grease I have has carbon in it, and will get black smear easily on anything unless you are very careful.

It's a wonder to me that these connections last as long as they do.

Checking the connections at the drive head is step next I think. Start with the easiest/cheapest and work up from there.

[Jerome Stanek]

Had rhar happen to me in the middle of winter I adjusted the down force and it helped a for a while. I ran out of adjustment so I ended up puttinf a Half gallon jug of water on the dooe until I could get a new opener.

[Kev Williams]

you don't need to jump the photo sensors wires, just disconnect them from the opener :)

[Curt Harms]

you don't need to jump the photo sensors wires, just disconnect them from the opener :)

Thanks Kev, that makes it easier. When I'm able I'll try that.

[Jerome Stanek]

you don't need to jump the photo sensors wires, just disconnect them from the opener :)

On mine if you disconnect them the oper will not work

[Jim Becker]

On mine if you disconnect them the oper will not work
That was the case with the old Craftsman I mentioned previously...removal of the sensors wasn't an option and replacing them wasn't a good financial choice for a unit that was so old. "Genuine" parts were certainly not available in my situation.

[Tom M King]

One of ours in the rental house is also an old Craftsman. I started looking at replacement parts, and pretty quickly decided the better way to go would be to just replace it. Fortunately, the conductive grease put it back to work.

[Tom M King]

Here's the conductive grease I use for such things. It has carbon in it, and will easily get all over everything if you get it on a finger. I already had it for working on old tractors. It's not exactly cheap, but a lot cheaper than the kind that has silver in it.

For the erratic garage door openers, I scraped the stripped ends of the wires, straightened the ends out so I could put them straight into the sockets, dipped the end of the wire into the end of the grease tube without touching the grease with fingers while on the ladder, and stuck them back in the holes. Both doors went right back to work.

https://www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals-Premium-Carbon-Conductive/dp/B00NB14C2C/ref=sr_1_3?gclid=CjwKCAjwh-CVBhB8EiwAjFEPGVfyeX0QTFeXo4WvXsBfKYLZa-lkrLxXbOnoGEIylCpVO6OgGYas2hoCGXEQAvD_BwE&hvadid=511484019574&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9009793&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=9132887782571551703&hvtargid=kwd-358237800183&hydadcr=4701_10064574&keywords=electrical+grease+conductive&qid=1656251852&sr=8-3

Di-electric grease is non conductive, and relies on contact between conductors, protecting them from corrosion. I figured since the contact area was so small on those little wires that conductive grease would be a better choice. It also protects against corrosion, while at the same time helping with conductivity.

[Myk Rian]

We had a C-man chain drive that I had replaced the drive gears twice. When we had an insulated door installed I went with a Champion belt drive. Great improvement.
I mounted the safety lights on a rafter pointing to each other. They can be moved to the floor if desired.
Great opener and so much quieter than the chain.

[Alex Zeller]

We had a C-man chain drive that I had replaced the drive gears twice. When we had an insulated door installed I went with a Champion belt drive. Great improvement.
I mounted the safety lights on a rafter pointing to each other. They can be moved to the floor if desired.
Great opener and so much quieter than the chain.

My father had one of them. One of the drive gears was plastic and would strip out if the springs weren't set up properly. After replacing it twice he bought like 5 replacement gears and had them zip tied to the bracket that held the opener. My G doors have jackshafts and the opener mounts directly to them. Much better than the ones that have a track with a screw, belt, or chain. They are so quiet that all you can hear is the motor humming once the wheels were replaced with ones with bearings.

[Curt Harms]

Well, I've tried the good suggestions here and no joy. The opener is still usable, the remotes work to open but we have to hold the fixed switch button to close the door. I have looked at new openers and I guess the screw drive openers are out of favor. I found all of one and it was like $280 where chain or belt drive start at $156, most are high $100s - low $200s. I did look at the wall mount units, they're a thought. I Guess we'll put up with what we have 'til we get tired of it.

[Jim Becker]

The better openers, including the jack shaft versions, are unfortunately not inexpensive. That should not be surprising... ;)

[Alex Zeller]

Both my garage doors have the jackshaft style openers. They are very quiet but require the door to be in good working order. If your door has the type of springs that stretch out as the door closes you can't use a jackshaft style opener. When the door is open it has enough weight trying to start it closing because jackshaft openers don't actually close the door. They just counter the spring so gravity will pull the door down. They also have a way of checking the tension on the cables that connect the jackshaft to the bottom of the door. If the opener starts to counter the spring and the door doesn't start to close and the cable gets slack it'll create a bird's nest and a huge mess. The tension measuring device will prevent that.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I can not remember if the Stanley screw type opener from 1997 came in a short box with the screw and rail in 3 segments. Every time I have to install a big box store opener I wish the homeowner had called a pro door guy who could provide an opener with a one piece rail.

[Tom M King]

In that rental house I mentioned, there is one screw drive, and one belt drive side by side. There is not enough difference in noise between the two to matter. The door itself makes more noise than either opener.

[Curt Harms]

In that rental house I mentioned, there is one screw drive, and one belt drive side by side. There is not enough difference in noise between the two to matter. The door itself makes more noise than either opener.

Our neighbor next door has a belt drive unit, I don't know what brand. It is significantly quieter than our screw drive, the door itself makes more noise than the opener. I think my next step is to disconnect the door from the opener.

[Jim Becker]

Curt, when I had the new opener installed last summer by Des-Carr, the technician took quite a bit of time carefully realigning the wheels and track as well as lubricating all the hinges...all ten billion of them on a 16' door. It now operates with very little sound. So in combination with whatever your choice is for a new opener consider spending an afternoon going over everything and lubricating things. It really does make a surprising difference!

[Curt Harms]

Curt, when I had the new opener installed last summer by Des-Carr, the technician took quite a bit of time carefully realigning the wheels and track as well as lubricating all the hinges...all ten billion of them on a 16' door. It now operates with very little sound. So in combination with whatever your choice is for a new opener consider spending an afternoon going over everything and lubricating things. It really does make a surprising difference!

I'll be sure to keep that in mind, Jim. I have lubricated the rollers a few times but never the hinges.

[Jim Becker]

The change in sound level was pretty amazing, Curt. So much so that I'm about to re-lubricate again (one year in) to keep things that way! Garage doors are one of those things that can be "out of sight, out of mind" where 10 minutes of "hard labor" (LOL) can make them "disappear" even more. :) :D