A garage door that refuses to open is one of the more disruptive things that can happen to a house. Your car is stuck, you're late, and half the buttons you know how to press aren't doing anything. Before you assume the worst and start shopping for a new opener, work through this troubleshooting guide. Some of these problems have simple fixes you can do in five minutes. Some of them absolutely need a professional. This guide will help you tell the difference.
Start with the easy stuff
Most of the time, a door that won't open has a boring, easy-to-fix cause. Rule these out before you assume the worst.
Check the batteries in your remote and keypad
This sounds too simple to matter, but it is one of the most common reasons we get called. Try the wall button, the one mounted on the wall inside your garage. If the wall button works but the remote doesn't, it's almost certainly the remote battery. Same with keypads. Swap the battery and try again before you panic.
Check the wall lockout switch
Most modern wall control panels have a lock button or slider that disables remotes when activated. It's useful when you go on vacation and don't want anyone using the remote signal to open your door. It's a lot less useful when it gets bumped by accident and you can't figure out why your remote stopped working. Look for a “lock” or padlock icon on your wall panel and make sure it's off.
Look at the photo eyes
Your garage door has two small sensors, one on each side of the door, about six inches off the floor. They shoot an invisible beam across the opening. If something is blocking the beam, or if the sensors are knocked out of alignment, the door won't close (and on some openers, won't open either). Check that both sensors have a solid indicator light, and gently adjust them so they're pointing directly at each other. A spider web across the lens is a surprisingly common culprit.
Try the manual release
Every opener has a red emergency release cord hanging from the trolley on the rail. Pulling it disconnects the door from the opener so you can lift the door by hand. If you pull the cord and can't lift the door easily by hand, like if it feels like it's made of concrete, the problem is with the door itself, not the opener. That's almost always a broken spring, and it's time to stop troubleshooting and call us.
If the opener runs but the door doesn't move
When you hear the motor humming or running but the door isn't going up, the opener is trying to do its job but something is broken between the motor and the door. A few possibilities:
The trolley disconnected
If someone recently pulled the emergency release cord (or your kids were curious), the trolley may still be in the disconnected position. You can usually re-engage it by pulling the cord straight down while manually sliding the door back into its resting position, then pressing the wall button.
Stripped gear or drive
On older chain- and belt-drive openers, the main plastic gear inside the motor housing eventually strips. When that happens, the motor runs but the chain or belt doesn't move. This is a legitimate repair we do all the time, and it doesn't necessarily mean you need a new opener. Give us a call and we'll take a look.
Broken spring
This is the big one. Garage door springs are what actually lift the weight of the door. The opener just guides it. When a spring breaks, the opener suddenly has to try to lift the door's full weight (which can be 150 to 400 pounds), and it usually can't. You'll typically hear a loud bang when a spring breaks, and after that the door just doesn't go up. If you look at the springs above the door and see a visible gap in a coil, that's your problem.
Do not try to open the door with the opener after a spring breaks. You can burn out the motor or bend panels. And do not try to replace the spring yourself. This is the single most dangerous repair on a garage door and puts people in the emergency room every year. We wrote a separate post on springs if you want to understand why. Otherwise, this is what our spring replacement service is for.
If the door goes up a little then reverses
A door that starts opening then reverses and goes back down usually has a sensor or force-setting issue.
- Check for obstructions in the tracks. A stray tool, a stiff piece of weatherstripping, or ice buildup in the winter can be enough to trip the safety reversal.
- Look at the tracks for dents or misalignment. If a track is bent, the door binds and the opener reads it as an obstruction.
- The opener's force settings may need adjustment. There are usually two dials on the back of the opener, up-force and down-force. This is something we can set correctly during a service visit.
If nothing at all is happening
Total silence when you push buttons? Try these in order.
Check the power
Is the opener plugged in? It sounds obvious, but ceiling outlets get bumped by ladders, rakes, and Christmas decorations more often than you'd think. Check the breaker panel too, since the garage outlet may be tripped.
Check for a light on the wall panel
If the wall panel has no indicator light, no power is getting to the system. Either the opener isn't plugged in or the low-voltage wire from the wall button to the opener has been cut or shorted.
Fried logic board
Older openers eventually lose their control (logic) board to power surges or age. If the opener has power but truly does nothing when you press any button, with no motor sound, no lights, and no response, the logic board is a likely candidate. On many openers this is a repairable part.
When to call us
We're happy to talk you through basic troubleshooting on the phone. Call us about any of these and we can usually tell you whether it's a quick fix or a service visit:
- Broken spring or visible gap in a spring coil
- Door is off the tracks
- Cable has snapped and is hanging loose
- Panels are bent or damaged
- Opener smells burned or is smoking (unplug it immediately)
- You've tried the easy fixes and nothing has worked
Give us a call at (618) 526-2222 during business hours, Mon-Fri 7:00 AM - 4:00 PM. We'll get you on the schedule and fix the problem rather than the symptom.
