Garage door has difficulty closing

[Steven]

My garage door opener can open smoothly, but it only closes about half way - seemlingly encounters resistance - and then the door re-opens. I disconnected the automatic opening system and tried to close the door manually - it worked but I could feel resistance when pulling it down around half way. The system seems fine - springs, cables, rollers, etc. (I just installed a new SEAS garage door opener two weeks ago and it worked fine until two days ago. It's an old door abotu 15 years old and the old garage door opener was replaced. I also lubricated the components of the garage door system.)

Any suggestions? Thank you.

[DerbyDad03]

Is it significantly colder compared to when you installed the opener?

My Craftsman has a habit of balking when it gets really cold. I have to increase the up and/or down force to get the door to travel it's full distance. I should note that my opener is about 20 YO, however, it has been doing it since the first cold winter.

[Joe]

Keep looking...you missed a roller or two or a track misalignment. Get up closer and have someone move the door for you and the fault might be more obvious. Good luck.

Joe

[trader4]

The resistance is either binding or the springs have too much tension. Since it used to work, I'd suspect it's binding. As suggested, have someone work the door while you look for where it may be binding. Could be anything from the track and rollers to the track having moved and the door now hitting the side of the garage.

[tnom]

In addition to the other suggestions take a look at the garage door opener track. If it's a two piece track the connection in the middle may be misaligned and cause a hiccup in the middle.

[hallerb]

whens the last time somone lubed the door tracks rollers etc?

often its never.........

["Blattus Slaf]

Make sure the track itself didn't move in and is causing the binding. You may have do adjust the wall mounts. If you can't see where it's binding, start making small adjustments to see if it helps. You can also change the motor down torque before reversing.

[Frank]

Found to loose a chain or to tight a chain will cause same problem.To loose and the door will jerk causing it to stop /reverse. to tight will simply overload the motor. frank

[salty]

It's okay to oil the bearings in the rollers, but putting lube or grease on the track or roller surface is usually not helpful. It just attracts grit, and gets sticky when cold.

[Dan Espen]

Another poster mentioned Sears openers and the cold. Mine is a Sears about 2 years old. Just today I had to adjust the down force otherwise it would start to close then move back up. First really cold day of the year.

["Blattus Slaf]

I just hung a new door and track with a very old sears opener and it worked fine all summer and works fine this winter. My other door has a Truevalue and it works fine also, summer or winter.