My Genie Pro 88 is about 18 years old.
Suddenly it seems to only open. To close it, I must pull the emergency handle to disconnect it, then close manually.
However, if I reconnect the mechanism once the door is closed, it opens just fine by remote or by hard wire.
If the door is in the open position and I activate the button (either hard wired or remote), absolutely nothing happens. The motor just doesn't come on.
Anyone have any ideas?

We had a similar problem... I'm no expert but ours wouldn't close either. We found cob-webs and dirt were getting around the safety sensors that create the invisible line at the bottom of the door. It's created so kids won't be trapped in the garage door. Well those get dirty. Clean that and see if it works.

Thanks for the tip, but a local repairman told me the fix over the phone. All I did was loosen the ground screw in the logic board, then re-tighten it. It was just a question of it being grounded. Note that the Genie Company wanted me to buy a new unit, with the advice of the local repairman I fixed it in 10 minutes!

Thank you. I tried this solution on my opener and it resolved the problem. Saved me 700 dollars!

I had been closing the garage manually for the last two weeks! I also have the Genie 88 and this tip work perfectly. This opener does not have the eye at the bottom of the door. It's an oldie for sure. Thanks.

I have the same problem. The door opens fine but doesn't close. It moves a few inches and then reverses. Where is this ground screw? I removed the cover of the garage door opener but only one found one screw on the board. This is screw that connects (or bolts) the board to the metal frame. Is this the screw you guys are talking about? Loosen it removed the board, I tightened it back but still the problem exists.

Thanks.

Me Too, my ancient Genie 88 Opens the Garage door but does not close... I opened the main unit ( not the remote unit) & tightened all the screws that looked like they supplied power , but only after I unplugged & replugged the ribbon strip connector with those 20 some odd wires did it start to work again... thanks for the info guys... saved me $$ on replacing the unit..

Cheers Tom...

I own two Genie model pro 88s. I have spent lot's of time with this problem of the door closing then auto reversing open or not closing at all when you push the button. There is a jumper plug that jumps two pins on the circuit board if you DON'T have an electric eye connected to the unit. As time goes by, the pins it jumps and the jumper itself don't connect good due to corrosion. The vibration of the motor vibrates this plug so when the door is going down, the door auto reverse's back up. You can wiggle the jumper and usually that is a good temporary fix. I also removed the jumper and cleaned it with contact cleaner and also the pins with a fine grit sandpaper. Eventually however the problem eventually returns. I finally found a permanent fix. I removed the circuit board and soldered a piece of metal, I cut a piece of a paper clip, to permanently jump the pins. (make sure you jump the correct pins! ) Now it runs flawlessly, no more stopping and reversing. I don't recommend this fix to someone who is not mechanically inclined but if you are handy with a solder gun, go for it.

I have a Genie Pro 88 garage door opener. It opens but does not close. I saw a similar question posted on this website and saw some response regarding a possible solution by loosening and then re tightening the ground screw. Where exactly is this ground screw? How do I locate it and access it to try this fix?

I had the same problem and retightening the ground wire works great. Just untighten the four screws that hold the cover in place. Remove the cover. The ground wires are right next to where the cord feeds into the opener. The wires are green just loosen the screws, you may experience a few sparks as you unloosen these grounds don't worry just retighten. Relace the cover and you just saved yourself a 100 dollar service call

I found another way to fix. I installed a jumper wire here the two ground wires attach to the body of the garage door opener. There are two green wires right where the electrical cord comes in to the body of the unit. I attached a short wire to connect the gounds together. This has fixed my problem. If I continue to lose ground then I will try the circuit board fix suggested in the previous comment

Thank's a lot! I'm French and I have a Genie PRO88. So since one week, the door didn't close. A repairer wanted 80€ to come and he explained my by phone that we could find spare parts for PRO88 and I have probabely to buy and other system for only 700€. Fortunately, I read these commentaties and I've repaired myself my just jumping the 2 pins like Thomastman said. Thank for the 700€ unspent.

You guys are the best! I have been dealing with this EXACT issue for the past month. Had a couple of garage specialists give me an estimate to replace the operator unit for appox $425 and NO ONE hinted that the issue might just be the contacts on the shorting plug socket for the safety reversing accessory.

Even when I called Genie support, they refused any advice because the unit is too old and especially because it doesn't support the infrared safety detector. They tried to sell me a brand new unit as well.

After I read your suggestion(s), I removed the shorting plug, sprayed WD-40 on the pins and replaced it. Viola! It's working as a charm and cost me all of 15mins.

Thank you all for sharing your tips.

The suggestion of cleaning and tightening up the motherboard plug is the solution, if your capacitor is not leaking this electrical gunk type stuff. If the capacitor is shot a replacement costs about $20.00 including the shipping. So skip the new door opener idea.

I have had the same problem in both of mine. I removed the logic board and removed the plastic cap on the relays (the center one controls down) and cleaned the contacts. This fixed the problem in both units.

My Genie 88 was acting up as above -- door would open per signal but not close.
I fixed it by
1. Disconnect power,
2. remove the shell around the motor drive - just loosen 4 hex head screws and it slips off.
3. Find a clip across two pins on the circuit board. Might pay to remove the board -- disconnect the big connector, remove the fastener screw underneath, and it should slip out.
4. Pull and reinsert the clip several times. This assumes that you do NOT have an electric eye detector looking for an obstruction to a door closing.
5. Reattach the circuit board, shell, etc. Should work fine.

If you do have an obstruction detector, something's wrong with it -- maybe debris or dust obstructing a light beam, broken connection, etc. Also try toggling the connector at the circuit board level.

I had the same problem also. I checked all the wires as above and it still did not work. What I did find was that the there was a short on the wire where on the señor lever that indicates that the door is done. (There are two of these levers, one sensing when it is up, and one sensing when it is down.)

I do what to respectfully disagree with the person that states do not worry about the sparks. You should unplug the unit before doing anything. The circuit board is grounded to the case. It would be possible to short that out circuit board.

I need to get a remote for this Genie Pro 88 unit. I believe it works on 315mhz and is the old 9 dip switch unit. It's pre 1992 so there is NO intelligence code or electric eye.
What remote works with this old, old screw type system?

My door would not go down and I tried loosening and re-tightening the ground wires, but that didn't fix the problem. So I tried tightening the wire connectors to the sensor's and that did the trick.

My old Genie Pro was experiencing the same problem. After disconnecting the power, I tightened all the small wires including insuring that the ground wire (green) was well connected. That solved the problem. Thanks for the help.