Reviewed by Lukasz Zelezny for the Sicor range. Sicor makes parts that live inside other manufacturers' lifts. This page is a working reference for engineers and technically-minded building managers: how to identify the Sicor component fitted, what its typical failure modes look like, and how to order the correct spare first time. End-user fault-finding is not in scope.
Quick Diagnosis
Answer up to three questions. We'll point you at the most likely Sicor fault on this page — full detail stays visible below either way.
Common Sicor Faults
The sicor lift problems reported most often to UK service desks — expanded in the order owners typically encounter them. Several are resolved by routine Sicor maintenance rather than a call-out, and the rest are far quicker to fix when you can describe the symptom precisely to whoever handles your Sicor repair.
Identifying a Sicor drive or machine in the machine room
Engineer onlyConfirming the Sicor drive, motor, or gearless machine fitted to your lift.
Read this through before booking any Sicor repair. The answer is often simpler than it looks.
The drive or traction machine of a UK commercial lift is the single most expensive component in the fitting, and identifying it accurately protects the value of every spare and every service decision.
The plate on a Sicor machine gives the model designation, serial number and often the maximum load — photograph it in full.
On modern MRL (machine-room-less) lifts the Sicor machine is above the shaft rather than in a separate machine room. Either way, only a competent lift engineer should be inside the space.
Building operators should ask their contractor for a photo of the Sicor plate at the next visit and file it with the lift's log.
If it becomes a repeat event, treat it as a Sicor servicing question rather than a one-off Sicor repair; recurring symptoms usually trace back to a missed maintenance interval.
Sicor brake not holding or not releasing
Engineer onlyThe Sicor traction brake is showing symptoms of holding failure or drag.
Most people arriving at Sicor troubleshooting pages describe the problem in roughly these words.
The brake on a Sicor traction machine is a safety-critical component: it must hold the loaded car at the floor with the motor de-energised. Must release cleanly when the drive commands a start.
When a Sicor brake fails to hold, the car rolls slightly at every stop and produces the classic levelling error above or below the floor; when it fails to release.
The drive trips on over-current within seconds of the call. Both are engineer-only diagnoses on any Sicor machine and both are more and more urgent.
A brake fault is one of the fastest routes from "in service" to "unsafe". Building operators noting the symptom pattern accurately helps the Sicor engineer diagnose the fault at the first visit.
Keep the Sicor maintenance paperwork with the lift. Whoever attends the Sicor repair will want to see when the last service was done.
Sicor encoder feedback loss
Engineer onlyThe Sicor drive has tripped with an encoder or feedback fault.
Before you phone anyone about a Sicor repair, work through the description below. The encoder on a Sicor traction machine reports position and velocity back to the drive.
It is the reference the drive uses to command the motor.
An encoder fault on a Sicor drive shows up either as a specific coded trip on the drive display or as more and more erratic levelling at floors.
Diagnosis is engineer-only; the Sicor drive log records the trip and the underlying cause is usually an encoder cable fault, a connector working loose with vibration, or the encoder disc itself contaminated.
Building operators seeing the same Sicor trip repeatedly should pass the trip code to the contractor rather than accepting a mains reset as the resolution.
Faults in this family are largely prevented by keeping to the Sicor servicing schedule, so check the date of your last Sicor maintenance visit while the paperwork is out.
Sicor motor overheating
Engineer onlyThe Sicor traction motor thermal is tripping the lift out of service.
This symptom accounts for a steady share of the Sicor repair enquiries we see each month.
A Sicor traction motor has a thermal cut-out that fault-locks the lift when the motor winding temperature exceeds its rated limit. Repeated thermal trips on a Sicor motor are always symptomatic.
They can be caused by airflow to the machine or MRL space being blocked, by ambient temperatures in the machine room rising above the design limit in summer, by mechanical drag increasing the load on the motor, or by a fault in the Sicor drive that is pulling more current than the motor can shed as heat.
Building operators should check the Sicor machine-room airflow is clear and log any recent changes. The underlying cause is a Sicor engineer diagnosis. Add it to the log.
Planned Sicor maintenance is always cheaper than reactive Sicor repair. The log is what turns a vague complaint into a booked servicing job.
Sicor drive tripping on over-current or over-voltage
Engineer onlyThe Sicor VVVF drive is showing repeated over-current or over-voltage trips.
This is one of the most common reasons UK owners look up Sicor troubleshooting in the first place.
The Sicor VVVF (variable-voltage, variable-frequency) drive protects itself and the traction machine by tripping on abnormal current or voltage.
Repeated Sicor trips on the same indicator are diagnostic: over-current usually points to a mechanical load fault (brake dragging, guide-shoe seizure), over-voltage to a regenerative-braking issue where the Sicor drive can't dump the energy of a descending loaded car quickly enough.
Neither is a building-operator diagnosis. The Sicor drive event log is the primary source of truth.
The value of building staff noting the pattern is that it tells the engineer whether to bring parts for the mechanical or the electrical suspect.
Where the checks do not settle it, describe the symptom in your own words when you ask for Sicor repair. A plain description helps far more than a guessed diagnosis.
Sicor traction machine bearing noise or vibration
Engineer onlyThe Sicor machine is developing a rumble or vibration that carries into the car ride.
Of every Sicor troubleshooting question sent to us. This symptom is among the most frequent.
Bearing wear on a Sicor traction machine is characteristically an ageing symptom: the ride quality of the Sicor lift gradually degrades, a low-frequency rumble appears on travel that wasn't there at start-up testing, and vibration more and more transmits into the car.
Left alone, bearing wear ends with a machine seizure and a long out-of-service period.
The value of catching it early is huge — a planned Sicor bearing service is a fraction of the cost and time of a failed-machine recovery.
Building operators should log ride-quality changes on the Sicor lift on the maintenance log rather than waiting for a fault to be reported by users.
A short entry in the Sicor maintenance log now avoids any later doubt about whether the fault was reported before the next Sicor servicing visit.
Sicor repair
Before booking a Sicor repair, separate the symptom from the cause. A lift component that halts mid-travel, one that will not start, and one that starts then stops are three different jobs even when they look identical from the landing. Note which of the three you have, plus the last thing that changed — a power cut, a new floor covering, a delivery knock — and hand that to whoever attends.
Anything behind a cover or panel, in the pit or shaft, or involving doors, gates and interlocks is engineer-only work. Your part of a Sicor repair is to check and report: mains power on, isolator on, emergency stop out, nothing in the door threshold, and a written note of the fault code.
What Noise Is Your Sicor Lift Making?
Lifts talk. Not eloquently — but a grind, a beep or an ominous silence each means something. Press play, compare, and pick the closest match.
Example sounds are synthesized approximations to help you compare — not recordings of Sicor equipment.
Grinding — likely causes on a Sicor lift
⚠️ Engineer only- Motor bearing at end of life on a drive unit
- Door-operator gearbox worn out
- Sheave or pulley bearing failure
Grinding from a Sicor lift component in service is a bearing or gear reaching end of life — motor, sheave, door-operator gearbox, or drive input.
The correct response from a lift engineer is to spot which unit is the source (bearings and gears each have distinct signatures on a stethoscope), order the correct Sicor service part, and plan the shutdown.
This is not a page for end users to work from: any mechanical work on Sicor drive. Motor or door components needs manufacturer training and the correct lifting equipment.
Building managers should log the fault and route the Sicor part number to their contractor.
What Light Is Your Sicor Lift Showing?
Lifts also talk in light. Pick what you can see.
Steady red — on a Sicor lift
⚠️ Engineer only- Drive-unit fault LED latched on the controller
- Door-operator fault indicator raised at end-of-stroke
- External enable input from the whole-lift controller withdrawn as a fault
A steady red indicator on a Sicor lift means a safety input is open or the controller has latched a fault. The common causes here are the boring ones, which is good news.
Before anything else, confirm the doors close fully. That no stop switch is left operated. That nothing visible is holding a safety contact open.
A red that clears after those checks is fine to use once travel returns to normal. A red that stays is latched.
Leave the lift powered, stop retrying, and report the exact light state to your service provider.
Is It Safe to Keep Using It?
Three questions. Ten seconds. Answer honestly.
When to Call an Engineer
There is nothing safe for an owner to do beyond this point. Contact the company servicing your Sicor lift, or use the form below, if you see:
- A fault that comes back minutes after a reset.
- Smoke, burning smell, or visible damage to cabling or control gear.
- Water ingress in the pit, machine room or car.
- The car outside its normal travel range or away from the landing.
- Intermittent door, gate or interlock operation.
Sicor servicing
Sicor servicing intervals are set by the installer and by how hard the lift component works: a domestic unit used a few times a day is not on the same schedule as one in constant use. If you have inherited the equipment with a property, ask the incoming provider for the last service sheet before agreeing a plan.
Keep every service sheet. A dated history of Sicor servicing tells the next engineer which parts have already been changed, supports any warranty claim, and is the first thing a buyer's surveyor asks for when the property changes hands.
Sicor at a glance
Quick reference: how Sicor lifts are built, how they show faults, and where the official documentation lives.
- Segment
- Component (machines)
- HQ / market
- Italy
- Key products
- Gearless/geared traction machines
- How faults are shown
- No own codes — via controller
- Coverage on this page
- System-level
- Platform / ownership
- Component supplier
- Official code source
- n/a — controller manual
About Sicor
Reviewed by Lukasz Zelezny for the Sicor range. Sicor makes parts that live inside other manufacturers' lifts. This page is a working reference for engineers and technically-minded building managers: how to identify the Sicor component fitted, what its typical failure modes look like, and how to order the correct spare first time. End-user fault-finding is not in scope.
Lift Troubleshooting is an independent resource and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Sicor. See our full disclaimer.
Sicor maintenance
Day-to-day Sicor maintenance is mostly housekeeping, and all of it is safe from outside the equipment: keep charge points and landings clear, keep the lift component on power rather than isolating it between uses, and keep the door threshold free of grit, rugs and packaging.
Nothing in owner-level Sicor maintenance involves removing covers, entering the pit or shaft, or adjusting doors, gates or interlocks. If a check cannot be done from the landing with the equipment behaving normally, it belongs to a qualified engineer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is my own Sicor component covered by this page?
Sicor is a component (machines) manufacturer active in Italy. The ranges most often met in the UK are Gearless/geared traction machines.
The fault-finding below is written around the behaviour those Sicor ranges share rather than around one model number.
So start here and then confirm your exact model from the rating plate before you quote anything to an engineer. One thing worth knowing: the reference note for Sicor reads "Component supplier".
This can change whose manual actually applies to your machine.
Where does a Sicor component show its fault code?
On Sicor equipment the sign is described as: No own codes — via controller. Codes are not standardised between makers, or even between board generations within Sicor, so photograph exactly what you see.
The characters, the lamp colour, the flash pattern — and report that with the model from the plate. Read the sign; do not open the Sicor controller or any panel to chase it.
Which Sicor problem comes up most often?
The fault this page opens with is "Identifying a Sicor drive or machine in the machine room". Confirming the Sicor drive, motor, or gearless machine fitted to your lift.
The next most reported Sicor symptom is "Sicor brake not holding or not releasing".
Work through the safe checks listed against each one, note what you observe, and pass that to a competent lift engineer.
All on this page stops at check-and-report: nothing here asks the maintenance contractor to force a door, move a stalled car, remove a panel or enter a pit or shaft.
Is there an official Sicor source for fault information?
The authoritative reference for this brand is the n/a — controller manual. Sicor publishes to its own channels and to registered trade accounts rather than openly.
So if you have no account, ask your maintenance contractor to supply the Sicor document that covers your fitting.
Our own coverage of Sicor is currently rated "System-level", so treat this page as an orientation and the manufacturer's document as the authority.
How do I identify which Sicor component is fitted?
The Sicor manufacturer's plate is on the component itself. It is not the badge on the car — a lift wearing one brand's name usually carries Sicor parts inside.
Ask your engineer to photograph the Sicor plate during a planned visit. The car top, machine room and MRL space are engineer-only areas.