My garage door opener motor will not stop going down even when limit switch contacts touch. It stops when opening fine but not when going down. We recently had a neighbors house struck by lightning and I assume we had a power surge since this has been occuring since then. Do you think replacing the limit switch will correct this problem or could it be a larger problem. Motor, safety sensors and all other components seem to be fine. Thank you.

Check the opening limit dial on the garage door opener unit. You can locate the dial that controls the opening limit on the opener unit and use a flat head screwdriver to turn the dial counter clockwise until the door stops about an inch and a half away from the stop bolt. Then, test the door and make sure it does not slam into the bolt. A video tutorial on how to adjust the opening limit of a Craftsman garage door opener is available on YouTube.

If the above step does not work, check the limit switches on the garage door opener. Most garage door openers have limit switches that control how far the door opens and closes. Improperly adjusting these switches can cause the door to stop halfway. Consult your garage door opener's manual to learn how to adjust the limit switches. Make small adjustments until the door closes fully. Craftsman garage door opening too far and hitting stop bolt easy adjustment (youtube.com)

If the door is not reversing when it hits the up limiter, it could be due to a problem with the safety sensors. Check to make sure that the sensors are aligned and that there is nothing blocking their path. If the sensors are not the issue, you may need to adjust the up limit switch. This switch controls how far up the door goes before it stops. If it is set too high, the door may not reverse when it hits the up limiter. To adjust the up limit switch, locate the adjustment screws on the motor unit and turn them in small increments until the door stops at the proper position and reverses when it hits the up limiter.

are the wires connected to the motor correct
for the limit switch there should be one wire ( normally black or neutral going to the center connection and the other wire ( red or active wires going to either of the other two terminals
that set up means that power is available to the limit switches and the return is the neutral wire
it works like this
on the up direction power is delivered to the motor by the controller box through a closed limit switch
when the up limit is circuit is broken the motor stops
the down button reverses the polarity of the motor in the controller box and so the motor runs in reverse through the the lower limit switch until that circuit is broken In the down action the upper limit switch circuit is completer but the control box has no power to it until the lower switch circuit is brokenis broken
the motor is dc voltage and to getting it to go up or down is done by the control box changing polarity for the motor power according to the button position pressed on the remote

It sounds like your up limit control is badly out of adjustment. Remove the cover from the motor unit and you will see the limit switch assembly. You need to adjust the up limit contacts so they make and then your door should reverse and go down. Adjust that up limit so the door stops when the trolley is about 5 inches from the motor housing.

First of all I have a question. If you cannot get it to close how do you know it will go up just fine?

All your symptoms and the things you have checked still point to the trolley being jammed against the stop bolt. The fact it will not move even an inch says jammed trolley or the up and down limits are completely misadjusted. Remove the cover from the motor unit and look at the limit switch assembly. Make sure the up and down contacts are not both contacting the center contact.

The wiring for the limit switch assembly is:

Yellow wire to the up limit contact

Gray wire to the center contact

Brown wire to the down limit contact

You need to take the cover off the motor unit and watch how the limit switch assembly works. If the door is not stopping when the contacts make then you have a bad logic board.

I'm no expert, but on a previous door opener I had (don't know the brand), the side adjusting screw basically adjusted a limit switch, which was located inside the plastic housing (where the motor is). I was able to remove the housing, figure out which limit switch was actually being contacted "too soon" on the way down and adjusted it while watching it.

Just a suggestion, you might take a look.

just keep your hands out of the way of the chain and sprocket if you do take the housing off. .

The close setting limit switch needs adjusted. Once it is adjusted it should work just fine.

First unplug the unit for about 5 min. to reset the circuit board. while you are waiting use an ohm heter or multi tester to see is the limit switch works.

If the switch tests good and resetting doesn't help you probably need a new board.

Be sure to also get a suge protector to help save the system in the future.

Hope this helps