Airline Tech had a good write up about removing plugs. I cannot find the thread. Maybe someone else can locate it and post a link to it. There was a lot of good tips listed in it.
Especially on any bolt that goes into the water jacket.
Did you get the garage door fixed? I ask because I used to work on/install garage doors for a living. A non-working opener could be broken door springs, and the opener may not be able to lift the entire weight of the door, and just give up.
My friend in Williamsburg never had an opener installed when they had the house built because someone told them there was not enough overhead clearance to install a chain drive opener. I said that is bovine fecal matter. Called the new local company. They came by and said no problem at all. They installed a direct drive that goes right on the end of the spring shaft. I got up in the attic and ran power to it and it works like a champ. She said and all those years we been lifting that big door by hand!!!
I have done some pretty innovative installs myself. Where there's a will there's a way.My friend in Williamsburg never had an opener installed when they had the house built because someone told them there was not enough overhead clearance to install a chain drive opener. I said that is bovine fecal matter. Called the new local company. They came by and said no problem at all. They installed a direct drive that goes right on the end of the spring shaft. I got up in the attic and ran power to it and it works like a champ. She said and all those years we been lifting that big door by hand!!!
Absolutely
I had an opener installed in my son’s garage with about a nine foot ceiling. They had to get creative there too. His 2500 Ram roof was so close to the trip lever that he had to cut about two inches off it but it worked.
BTW, she’s sitting on 149,667 and is scheduled to go in to the Ford dealer Thursday for complete fluid change depending on the weather:My friend in Williamsburg never had an opener installed when they had the house built because someone told them there was not enough overhead clearance to install a chain drive opener. I said that is bovine fecal matter. Called the new local company. They came by and said no problem at all. They installed a direct drive that goes right on the end of the spring shaft. I got up in the attic and ran power to it and it works like a champ. She said and all those years we been lifting that big door by hand!!!
I've installed garage door openers several times and also replaced broken springs - won't do springs anymore because of the risk involved, gave away my tension sticks. Daughter's townhome is still covered by a 1 yr warranty which should cover the liftmaster repair, her opener quit working and gave a 4 - 1 code - excessive down force detected. I was able to open and close the door by the up/down arrows on the unit and at a certain point in the door travel you could hear roughness from the motor and the whole unit shook slightly from the strain, cleared the error code but it came back. I was quick to call the unit junk as several installers posted that they wouldn't recommend the opener owing to it's level of sensitivity causing problems like I detailed, supposedly liftmaster improved the unit in 2025 and sent some SW updates via WIFI which was not enabled. this unit is direct drive, sitting by the side of the garage door and it comes with full battery backup . In working the door with the opener disconnected I felt the springs might not be properly tensioned, it balanced halfway open and closed easily, going to the full open position required significantly greater force. The garage door people are scheduled to vist her tomorrow so we'll see. She already needed to have her entire floor replaced as the installers didn't use the proper glue, and a number of other minor things that showed lack of quality workmenship, seems like it's a common occurence.
Sounds like they screwed up the install on that door, like improper or under-wound springs.
I've installed several sets of garage doors over the years. The process is simple, but errors in judgement can be deadly. I just had a spring break a year ago, and replaced both. While I was at it I replaced all the rollers. Again, not mechanically difficult, but you must be diligent to be safe. I actually oil those springs annually with a very light spray... keeps the friction down. Balancing the load is important (spring tension needs to be equal), and minimizng load on the motor is also important.
