Your garage door opener needs occasional lubrication to keep working year after year smoothly and quietly. If you are handy, lubricating the garage door opener is something most homeowners can handle themselves. Otherwise, have the door serviced annually by an experienced garage door contractor.
There are three common types of garage door openers: chain drive, screw drive, and belt drive. If you have a chain drive opener, you will need to lubricate the drive gears, the rail and the chain. Apply a thin coat of low temperature silicone grease on the drive gears and the the rail. The chain can be lubed with almost any kind of oil. Bicycle or motorcycle chain lube works well. Make sure to wipe off any excess lubricant or it will drip on the raised door or worse, on your car.
For a screw drive opener, lube the rail and screw with low temperature silicone grease. A belt drive opener just needs some grease on the rail and also the gear mechanism like a chain drive opener. Take care not to get any lubricant on the belt. If the belt seems noisy, it may just need to be adjusted.
Once you have applied the lubricant, run the door up and down a few times to spread the lubricant around and wipe off any excess. If your garage door sees a lot of use, you should lube it three or four times a year. With less frequent use, annual lubrication is probably sufficient.
