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Treadmill Incline Motor Problems

The most common symptoms we hear about are that the incline is just running up and/or down and the treadmill won't start. If this is the case or if you cannot get the incline to work, use the incline calibration instructions from our troubleshooting section first. If you have tried recalibration, follow the next steps.

  1. If the incline moves but you it will not operate normally nor calibrate, check the wiring from the incline sensor to the power board. If all looks normal, put it back in calibration and see if you see a blinking "- -" symbol in the incline window when you are calibrating. If not, the incline sensor is bad. We now carry the most common incline sensors in stock so you don't have to replace the entire motor.
  2. If the incline moves but only just a bit, it could be a problem as simple as the gearbox on the motor being jammed. We remove the motor from the treadmill, reconnect the wiring, and then try to run the incline motor outside the treadmill. Many times, this will unjam it if that is the problem and then reinstalling it in the treadmill will get it to work. If you have the same problem or it doesn't run outside the machine and you can hear it try to work, you need to replace the incline motor.
  3. If the incline motor does not move, we need to figure out if the motor is getting voltage. Use a simple multi-meter and set it to AC volts. When you put it into calibration, it tries to calibrate the directions one at a time. Measure across the white and black wires first, then measure across the white and red wires second. If the motor is getting voltage you will read 120VAC (or thereabouts) one one of the measurements. If you have voltage but the motor won't move, you need to replace the motor.
If the incline motor does not move and you have done the voltage test and you do not have any voltage present, there is a problem in the electronics board that supplies the power. If the console is powering the drive motor as normal, you can bet it is getting an incline signal and the power board needs to be replaced (some models have an integrated power board/controller) so if there is only a single board the whole board has to be replaced. It is possible the console is not giving the proper signal but we've never seen it happen in thousands of treadmills.