Garage door symptoms
My garage door won't open
When your garage door won't open, the usual cause is a broken torsion spring, and that is a repair call rather than a quick fix. Before calling, rule out a locked wall console, a dead remote battery and lost power at the opener.
Updated
Stop after two tries and look above the door
Do not keep pressing the button or haul the door up by hand. If the opener groans, hums or raises the door slightly before quitting, a spring has probably failed, and each new attempt pits the motor against dead weight. Look at the spring shaft over the opening first and text us a photo; we fix broken springs across the Portland metro.
Likely causes, most common first
A broken spring keeps more doors shut than everything else on this list.
- Most common
A broken spring
The sign: The opener groans, or the door creeps up and sinks back, and one spring over the opening shows a clean break in its coils.
The fix: Fit a new spring sized to the door, or a matched pair on a two-spring setup, and balance it so the opener only steers. Garage Door Spring Replacement, from $249
- Common
Remotes locked out at the wall console
The sign: The car remote and outside keypad do nothing, yet the wall button opens the door every time.
The fix: Switch off the console lock, change the battery, or reprogram remotes that dropped out of memory. Garage Door Remotes, Keypads and Smart Controls, from $89
- Common
No power reaching the opener
The sign: The opener light stays dark and the wall button does nothing, often right after a storm or a tripped breaker.
The fix: Restore power at the breaker or outlet; if the opener stays dead, we test its wall button, wiring and logic board. Garage Door Opener Repair, from $149
- Common
The trolley is disconnected from the door
The sign: The chain or belt travels along the rail, but the door never moves and the red release cord hangs low.
The fix: Relatch the trolley; if it will not catch, we repair the carriage and find out why someone pulled the cord. Garage Door Opener Repair, from $149
- Less common
A stripped drive gear inside the opener
The sign: The motor whirs inside the opener head, the rail stays motionless, and both springs look whole.
The fix: Fit a new drive gear and sprocket, or a new opener when the old one has earned its retirement. Garage Door Opener Repair, from $149
- Less common
Ice or a slide lock holding the bottom down
The sign: The top section bows inward as the opener tugs, while the bottom edge stays iced to the slab or pinned by a bolt through the track.
The fix: Free the lock or thaw the seal, then replace any seal the pull tore or any section it bent. Garage Door Weather Seal and Threshold Replacement, from $149
What you can safely check in two minutes
Each takes under a minute from inside the garage and stays clear of springs, cables and brackets.
- If the opener light stays dark, check the breaker and press reset on any garage outlet with test and reset buttons.
- Make sure the console lock, often a button with a padlock symbol, is switched off.
- Put a fresh battery in your everyday remote, or try a spare one.
- Trace the red release cord up to the trolley and see whether it has come apart from the door arm.
- Check both side tracks for a slide bolt pushed through, and on a frosty morning check where the seal meets the slab.
- Look up at the spring shaft for a coil with an open gap, and stop there if you see one.
What your opener does when you press the button narrows it down
No light means power, a working wall button means the remotes, and a hum or short lift means a spring or gear.
| What happens | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| No light and no sound at all | No power, or a failed wall button or logic board | Check the breaker and outlet, then call |
| Wall button works, remotes do not | Console lock on, weak battery or lost programming | Turn the lock off and swap the battery |
| Motor hums or whirs, nothing moves | Stripped gear, or a door too heavy to start | Unplug the opener and check the springs |
| Chain or belt moves, door stays down | Trolley released from the door | Relatch it only if both springs look whole |
| Door rises slightly, then stops or sinks | Broken spring, frozen seal or a slide lock | Stop pressing the button and look up |
Why a door stays shut after a Portland ice storm or outage
After an outage, the usual culprits are a trolley still released from opening the door by hand, a slide lock someone threw for security, or a seal iced to the slab.
Portland International logs about 32 freezing nights a year, and Vancouver's Pearson Field about 45. A seal left sitting in a puddle can be glued down by dawn, and running the opener against it rips the rubber or bends the top section.
When power returns, press the wall button once; many openers relatch the trolley on that first trip. A light that stays off while the rest of the house has power points to the outlet, the circuit or the opener.
Older tract garages where the opener and springs wear out together
In neighborhoods built out in the 1970s and 1980s, a door that stays shut often has two tired parts: a spring with most of its cycles used up and an opener that has been working too hard.
Gresham's population more than tripled in the 1970s and doubled again in the 1980s, and Aloha's detached homes went up mostly between the 1960s and the 1990s. Any original spring there has run for decades on steel commonly rated around 10,000 cycles. A weak spring overworks the opener, so we fix the spring first and price an opener only if it still struggles.
When to call today instead of trying again
Call promptly, and leave the door alone, if any of these are true.
- One coil on the spring shaft has split open, or a side spring hangs loose.
- A lift cable has gone slack or slipped off its drum.
- The opener smells hot or keeps running after it should stop.
Door will not open: common questions
Why won't my garage door open after a power outage?
Most often the trolley is still released from when someone opened the door by hand, or a slide lock is still in the track. Clear the lock and press the wall button once so the trolley can catch. If the door rises a little and stops instead, look for ice at the seal or a broken spring.
Can I lift my garage door by hand when it won't open with the opener?
Only with the door shut tight to the floor and both springs whole; if a coil shows a gap, the door stays where it is. Otherwise tug the red release and lift with both hands on the lowest panel. A healthy door rises easily and holds partway; if it feels heavy or tilts, ease it down and call.
Why does my garage door lift a few inches and then stop instead of opening?
That is the opener hitting its force limit, almost always because a spring has broken and the door is suddenly far heavier. Less often, ice at the bottom seal or a slide lock is holding it down. Unplug the opener and call if a coil on the shaft shows a gap.
Should I replace the opener if my garage door won't open?
Usually not, because the opener is the cause far less often than the springs, and a new opener cannot lift a door the springs no longer carry. Replace it when the drive gear or logic board fails on an old unit, or when the unit is old enough to lack safety sensors.
How do I get my car out when the garage door will not open?
Look at the springs first. With one broken, the door stays where it is, since nothing offsets its weight; tell us about the trapped car when you phone and we shift the schedule around it. With both springs whole, the red release and a hand lift will free it.
Related pages
Areas we cover for this
Calls about a door will not open come in from Forest Grove, Irvington, Oak Grove and Jennings Lodge and every other part of the metro we serve.
Ready to get the door moving again?
Call with the symptom, or text a photo of the door and the opener, and we will name the part and the posted price before anyone drives out.