garage door wont stay shut

stevemw · 11-14-2009, 01:34 PM

I posted this in windows and doors as well. I'm not sure which place it belongs in.
I have a (hopefully) minor issue with my garage door opener. There is a small wire that runs from the motor unit along the rail to the center top of the garage door that has come loose. After this happened, the garage door won't stay shut on it's own without hitting the button again at the bottom of the cycle. This wire almost looks like some sort of ground wire. My question is, how does it attach back, and why did it come loose to begin with? It obviously maintains a sensor of some sort (and I obviously don't know much about garage door openers).

Thanks for any help,
Steve

stevemw · 11-14-2009, 01:47 PM

OK. After a little research, I figured out that it's the limit switch wire that disconnected. Now the question is, how do I reconnect it?

roughneck · 11-15-2009, 03:25 PM

Does the end of the wire have a female plug? It should. There should be a male spade on top of the limit switch. Plug it in there. I remember the hasle of securing this wire in my garage door days, allways a pain. It should just press into the top of the channel, psess firmly. Make sure there are no nicks in the wire. The reason it came out is most likely poor installation.
Remember that overhead doors need periodic maintenance. You are working them as hard as your vehicles and they can be just as dangerous. Make sure you can open and close doors manually, they should be balanced throughout its' travel. Test your eye-sensors and put a 2x4 under the door, it needs to open when it hits it. Look for: bad rollers, tighten loose nuts, frayed cables, broken springs and NEVER TOUCH THE TORSION ASSEMBLY. I have seen the aftermath and it is not pretty.

stevemw · 11-16-2009, 06:31 AM

Thanks Roughneck,

It did indeed have a female end and I was able to plug it in. It was definitely a pain due to the tiny little space between the limit switch and the ceiling. I made sure to fasten the wire a little bit better than it was before as well. Other than that, everything looks good.

Thanks Again!

subzero · 01-31-2010, 06:40 PM

Well, The reason it came out is most likely poor installation.
Remember that overhead doors need periodic maintenance.