A garage door that will not open most often has a broken spring, and the opener cannot lift the full weight of the door. Check in this order. Safety: a gap in a torsion coil or a slack cable means stop, even with the car inside. Power: reset the GFCI outlet and the breaker. Lock: the slide bolt and the wall console lock. Remote: try the wall button.
Likely causes
- A broken torsion or extension spring, often announced by a loud bang
- No power to the opener: a tripped GFCI outlet, a breaker or an unplugged cord
- A slide bolt or T-handle lock engaged, or the lock button on the wall control
- The trolley released by the emergency cord, or a stripped drive gear
- A snapped lift cable or rollers seized in the track
What you are seeing
You press the remote or the wall button and nothing happens. Or the opener hums, the light comes on, and the door lifts an inch before settling back. Sometimes the trolley runs along the rail and the door stays exactly where it was.
If anyone heard something like a gunshot in the garage earlier, take that seriously. It is how most people describe a torsion spring breaking, and it often happens with the door closed, hours before anyone tries to open it.
If the car is inside and a spring is broken, the car stays in for now. The door is too heavy to lift safely by hand, and the opener should not try. Our broken spring guide covers getting through the day.
What usually causes it
A broken spring tops the list. The springs lift the door; the opener only guides it. With a spring gone, the door is far too heavy for the opener, which strains, stops or reverses.
Power is next: a tripped GFCI outlet or a breaker. If the opener light stays dark, start there.
A lock left engaged, a slide bolt or a T-handle, holds the door down while the opener pulls. A lock or vacation button on the wall control can also shut off the remotes.
A released trolley or a stripped drive gear lets the opener run without moving the door. A snapped cable or rollers seized with rust, common on doors near the beach, account for most of the rest.
Need your garage door opened today?
Call or text with your address, single or double door, and what the door is doing. The price is firm before the truck leaves the yard.
What you can safely check in two minutes
Never run the opener or lift the door by hand to get the car out while a spring or cable is broken.
- Springs and cables. Look, do not touch. A gap in a torsion coil, a loose extension spring or a slack cable means stop here and call.
- Power. If the opener light does not come on, reset the GFCI outlet and check the breaker.
- Locks. Check the slide bolt or T-handle on the door and the lock button on the wall control.
- Release cord. If the trolley has been released, the door is closed and the springs look fine, run the opener once; many re-engage on their own. To lift the door by hand in an outage, follow our manual opening guide, with the door closed and the springs intact.
- Remote. If the wall button works and the remote does not, replace the remote battery.
After a power outage
A door that worked before the power went out and will not open after it usually has one of these causes.
- A tripped GFCI outlet or breaker. The house has power back; the opener circuit does not.
- Lock mode. The lock button on the wall console got pressed in the dark, so the remotes stop while the wall button still works.
- A released trolley. The door was opened by hand during the outage and never reconnected.
- Erased memory. On many openers a surge clears the remotes and the keypad.
- A surge-damaged logic board. Power reaches the outlet, and the opener still does nothing.
- A drained backup battery. A long outage runs it flat; see opener beeping.
Which repair fixes it
Each cause has its own repair, and we confirm which one before anything comes apart.
- Broken spring: spring replacement, the repair behind most doors that will not open.
- Stripped drive gear, worn trolley or a surge-damaged logic board: opener repair. Stripped gears are a familiar job on chain-drive LiftMaster and Chamberlain units.
- Snapped or unwound cable: cable and drum replacement, with the springs checked at the same time.
- Remotes erased by a surge: remote and keypad programming.
- Rollers seized in the track: rollers and hinges.
When a repair stops making sense
A spring, a cable or an opener gear is almost always worth replacing. The door and the opener themselves are the real question.
- The bottom section is rusted through, a common sight on older doors in beach neighborhoods.
- Several sections are cracked or creased from a car hitting the door.
- A one-piece tilt-up whose wood frame has rotted or warped. Hardware is still available for most, but not every frame deserves it.
- An opener old enough that a failed logic board costs more to chase than a new opener with battery backup.
A new garage door is a job for a licensed contractor, and we say so. To weigh the door against the repair, read our repair or replace guide.
Across San Diego
Outages shape this symptom inland. In Lakeside and Spring Valley, homes that back onto open brush can sit in the high fire-risk areas where SDG&E may shut off power during a wind event [verify]. Learn the manual release before fire season, with the door closed and the springs intact; our fire season guide covers the rest.
In the older tracts of El Cajon, the door that will not open may be a one-piece tilt-up whose extension springs have finally let go. Near the beach, rusted springs and rollers are the usual reason a door is stuck one morning.
Will Not Open: common questions
Why won't my garage door open when the opener light comes on?
Power is reaching the opener, so the problem sits between the opener and the door. Most often a spring has broken and the door is too heavy to lift. Other causes are a lock engaged on the door, a stripped drive gear, or a trolley released from the opener. Look at the springs before you press the button again.
Could the manual lock be stopping my garage door from opening?
Yes. Many garage doors have a slide bolt or a T-handle lock that pushes a bar into the track. If it is engaged, the opener strains, hums or reverses while the door stays down, and running it that way can bend the bar or strip the drive gear. Check both sides of the door, slide the bolt back or turn the handle to unlock, then try the wall button.
Can a power outage stop my garage door from opening?
Yes. Without power the opener cannot run unless it has a working battery backup, which California has required on new residential openers sold or installed since July 1, 2019. With the door closed and the springs intact, pull the emergency release cord and lift the door by hand. Reconnect the trolley once power returns.
Why won't my garage door open with the wall button?
If the wall button does nothing and the opener light stays dark, the opener has no power: reset the GFCI outlet and check the breaker. If the light comes on but the door stays down, look at the springs, the locks and the trolley. If the button itself lights up but nothing at all happens, the wall wire or the logic board may have failed.
Is it the remote or the opener if my garage door will not open?
Press the wall button. If the door opens from the wall but not from the remote, it is the remote: replace the battery, check the lock button on the wall control, then reprogram. If neither works and the opener light is off, it is power. If the light comes on but the door does not move, it is the door or the drive.
The FAQ page has more answers. Not sure which part failed? Send a photo and we will name it.
Where we see this
We cover all of San Diego County, same day in most cases. Some of the places we work:
Related guides
- Garage Door Won't Open or Close? A Safe Checklist: Garage door stuck? Safe checks in order: power, wall control lock, remote battery, sensor lights and release cord, plus which symptom needs which repair.
- Broken Garage Door Spring: What to Do Right Now: Heard a loud bang in the garage? How to spot a broken spring, why the door stays shut and the opener off, and what to do while you wait for the repair.
- How to Open a Garage Door Manually When the Power Is Out: Open a garage door by hand in a power outage: where the release is on chain, belt, screw and wall-mount openers, how to reconnect, and when to stop.
Ready to get the door moving again?
One call or text gets you a straight answer and a firm price before the truck rolls. Mon to Sat 7am to 7pm.