Garage door Opener problems

Do you still have the manual? If not, you can find it at managemyhome.com, and it should have information that will help you with your situation.

Unplugging the unit overnight will clear everything out. There is capacitor that holds memory for like three hours. Including the error code. That is why I recommend overnight. Then your push button should work  if not check your obstruction sensors and realign. Then reprogram. If this does not work you need to call service. It will be a circuit board which you can buy a new unit usually for the cost of the circuit board.

Just hope you don't have to make a warranty claim.  I just tried to make a warranty claim last night for my garage door opener and I was pretty much told to "GO POUND SAND".  They wanted to send a tech to my house in about a week or two for mere $90.00 bucks to tell me that my opener doesn't work.  I have some of the same problems you do.  In my case, the wall mounted button which is hard wired to the opener works fine but none of the remotes works.  They batteries are good.  In my case, the receiver logic board is likely bad.  I will likely end up replacing my unit but I can tell you for sure, the next opener will not be coming from SEARS.

Your owner's manual will have a warranty statement that specifically outlines the length of the warranty and what is covered vs not covered.  Bear in mind...you do not necessarily have to avoid Sears GDO's to avoid possible problems.  Our GDO's are made by Chamberlain, one of the biggest names in GDO's.  They all have their issues.

One thing I will say about the warranty is that while most GDO warranties are for 1 year on parts, some models may not have the same time length on the labor.  Again, your manual will specify how long your warranty is (parts & labor).

Sears does not send techs to homes just to collect the trip charge and tell you your product is bad.  We come out to diagnose it and find out exactly which part is bad, present the estimate, and it will be your exclusive decision to repair or not.

There is a small chance that the logic board may not be the issue.  Did you try "relearning" your remotes?  Did you check your sensors at the door?  These are two MAJOR things to check before calling the logic board bad.  The owner's manual will tell you how to do the relearn procedure.  The sensors are only used for the down motion of the GDO, and the receiving sensor could be slightly out of adjustment.  The light on that sensor may only appear to be solidly lit, but if you get a close look, it may slightly flicker.  That's enough for it to prevent down motion without holding down the wall button.  Your lights on the GDO will blink several times after attempting to go down to let you know that there is a sensor issue.  They will not flash for any other reason.

There are so many issues to address here I can only deal with what could be wrong. The wiring could have a short. I have heard of a wire staple cut.  A crossed wire at the head. Did all transmitters come with the unit? How many time did you press button? Did you hold button in for ten seconds? Was the unit unplugged overnight? Are the sensor lights on solid? Was there a power outage? Surge protection? None of the above? The cheap fix is a Chamberlain universal remote kit hard wire for $20 at Menards.

I was at Sears today and the man in front of me was buying a new GDO, I think it was a Craftsman. On the side of the box it said "10 year warranty", and the sales guy STILL tried to sell him a service plan. I just had to laugh. He turned it down, BTW.

My Genie Trac-Drive GDO is still going strong. I installed it in 1986 when I bought the house. It came with a 5 year warranty, and the only maintenance I've had to do was to change out the plastic trac belt when it wears out. I'm on my 3rd belt I think.

The screwdrive Genies were a nightmare for us. The ice and snow froze the doors and tore the drives right out. Within two years they were replaced by chain drives.The electronics now are so complicated. The different transmitters and the obstruction sensors just are too much. The Craftsman units are reliable but lightning and power outages and surges and  just are too much for some people to deal with. Heck I even forgot about the transmitter lock out on some units. That is probably what is wrong with the one guys unit but the wall unit light would be on. Does he have three wall buttons with the light on? Communication? Oh well not my job.

All of the possible causes of a GDO not working presented in this post are ALL reasonable issues, for people who have never seen the specific unit.

A trained/experienced Service Technician can boil all these possible faults down to a specific cause in less than 1/2 an hour.

The light sensors are Federally mandated safety devices, used by ALL manufacturers of new Garage Door Openers.

The new electronical controls have increased security from 16,364 possible codes, to 3.5 billion codes, to 100 billion/rolling codes and now Sears has got the newest FCC mandated black buttoned remote controls on all of it NEW GDO's.

The "complexity" involves pressing the big transmitter button and "tapping" a LEARN button on the back of the opener - done.

If you can use one of them Cellularized Phones, the Garage Door electronics should be "cake".

Having a new GDO (Garage Door Opener) professionally installed lowers technical issues way down and comes with a one-year free visit for any installation issues feature.

The years guarantee on the GDO - is a Manufacturer's guarantee on JUST the motor replacement (not including labor charge).

The "extra" service agreement offered to Customers is a Sears Service Agreement, that includes free parts and labor to fix the unit, for the purchased number of years of the Service contract.

When you get your non-Craftsman garage door, get a Chamberlain or LiftMaster unit.

I hear they're really good units!

You can also purchase a Craftsman receiver/transmitter unit, that will basically share the manual push button line, with the existing button, to remotely access your garage door mechanism.

All said and done, the cost comes close to purchasing a new Craftsman garage door opener.

But, it's an option...

i've a Sears 1/2 HP GDO which I realize the OEM is Chamberlain and two occasions i've had the safety sensors fail due to lightening which seems to be a common problem. The GDO was purchased 5 years ago. Any recommendations for a good lightening resistor kit ? Also since it is a common problem seems Sears would stock the sensors at stores. Anyway on the internet I noticed various suppliers at half the price for the sensors.

Luckily, the GDO's are 110 volt, plug in units.

You can purchase a single-outlet Surge Protector for under ten-bucks.

The higher the "Joule" rating, the better.

Yaa...

10 years...

On the motor only.

Not including the Service visit cost or any other parts to the opener.

LOL!

I believe the local area Parts Department is much more likely to carry the Garage Door sensor units.

The good news is the stores carry all... those remotes and batteries for many of the old remotes.

Anyone know another site that might have manuals? Managemyhome.com does not have my model. Why doesn't Sears offer these?

I just bought a craftman garage door opener and installed it.  shortley afterwards it would open for 10 seconds and close all by its self, it does it this about every forty minutes.  any suggestions?

I've had my Sears GDO for over 8 years and it works just fine.  Lately, when I press the remote to close the door, the light will flicker and the door seems to come down but doesn't.  Other times, the door gets almost down to shut and it reopens.  Can this be just the batteries that need to be replaced in the remote units?  If so, what type of battery is needed?

Thanks.

I have a 15 yr old Sears GDO. The sensors will stop working every 2 days or so. If I recycle the power, they work fine for another couple of days. But when they stop working, I have to hold the wall button in to close the door. Do I have a bad board, sensor or bad wiring?

It may be time for a new GDO...

By the time service comes out, and replaces ANY parts, you would be doing better with a new machine and remotes.

If the light flickers and the door reverses, then the photo eyes are out of alignment or they are obstructed. Make sure that the LEDS on both eyes are solid. Also, you probably need to adjust the down force(located on the back of the unit). Most likely the eyes are not connecting with each other.