Buzzing Garage door opener

I have had this problem and it was a stripped gear. The gear was plastic. Unplug the opener and remove the casing. In the event that this is the case, you will find plastic shavings and the damage to the gear will be apparent.

No broken gears... if they were broke, wouldnt the opener just run & never shut off? cuz it would not hit the stop on the other end... I am guessing it is a capacitor or transformer??? but how do you test them?

any other ideas? besides a BFH?!?!?

This happened last year and after several minutes of frustration I found the installation and user manuals and reset the parameters. Then presto it worked again fine.

How it got out of adjustment

The opener was in the house when I bought it. So no instructions. What are the parameters that you are speaking of?

The "range" and Force" adjustments. On the rear and/or side of the unit are small indented adjustment screws with indicating arrows.

The instructions are in my pole barn, outside temperature is only about -10°F but the wind chill is about -42°F so tomorrow I'll post the sequences.

Chamberlain is a fine quality opener

I agree with the post about changing parameters. The garage probably settled or moved slightly due to the seasonal changes in weather. The "click buzz, stops, and does it again" is your opener trying to come down - stalling - and then hitting the return cycle - stalling and stoping. If the door comes down and you stop it safety dictates it reverses (so no one gets pinned) if it goes up and stalls safety dictates it just stops (so nothing gets crushed upwards, the door breaks, or something gets picked up only to drop from a few feet up). You can probably fix the problem with adjustment of the force parameter (On a Chamberlain it should just be a screw to turn - it is probably labeled with a D for down or a F with a down arrow next to it).

You want to increase the force just enough to make it work. If you adjust so high that you can't force a reversal of the door by pulling up by hand as the door is closing, you have a serious safety issue on your hands. If it comes down on someone it could injure (seriously) or even kill them (a small kid that gets knocked over then crushed by the door pushing down on chest/stomach). It will also crease your car for you if you foolishly/accidentally push the button while the car is under the door.

IF the door won't work unless you turn the force up "too high", then only do it for the short run and fix it as soon as possible.

I once bought a house with a garage that was litterally torqued several degrees from floor to top of wall and the roof was sway-backed as an old horse. The garage door worked fine. I straightened it (slowly over a couple of weeks with well-placed come-alongs), rebraced it straight and made it look like new. Lo-and-behold the garage door quit working! I had to actually disassemble the side tracks and put it back together with everything straight/parallel/plumb to the (new) world. That winter when the weather got cold the door quit working, and I had to change the parameters for the door due to movement. Same thing in the spring. Finally I just loosened the track screws enough to allow them to spring to where they wanted to be with the door closed and it never had trouble after that. There must have been enough non-straight-ness in the framework to bind the door until it was allowed to find it's own reality, and then life was good. Hopefully, your door/garage is not that far out of whack!

There are repair blogs on the web that address all manner of glitches and sell repair parts. I have saved a lot of time and money with nagging little appliance problems like this. A few minutes next to your warm computer can save you hours of frustration in a cold garage.

Since it is a chamberlain you should be able to find the model number on the tag located on the unit. Chamberlain units are fairly dependable and most of the time easy to repair. Once you have the model number you can do a search and most likely you will find the manual. Chamberlain also has a website with information on their units. It could be the control board which depending on the model is replaceable and not as expensive as replacing the unit itself.

Its very cold out it will probably work when it warms up. On the back by the bulb are two tension adjustments. Increase the setting on both the up and down position. Probably around 9 for your temperatures. It takes a small screwdriver to turn the setting.

The manual will call for white grease to lube the rail but silicone is your friend

Other posters have given good advise of control features and adjustment procedures however unplug and replug the unit then press reset before adjustment.

I remember a similar instance and the cure was re - synchronizing the remote and unit, big words for resetting frequencies.

You may have a bad capacitor in the circuit. I am not familiar with the Chamberlain opener, but the symptoms you describe are the same for a bad capacitor. Take off the cover remove the capacitor and have it tested. It should be close to the rated value printed on the capacitor's case. If it is more that 10% low, replace it.

for those who want to DIY, here.

Did you try to operate it after you decoupled the door from the drive? This eliminates binding as an issue and reduces starting torque.

If so, ignore force adjustment issues for now and focus on cap or relay (check for arcing if relay has transparent case)