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Garage Door Won't Open?
Car stuck inside and the door won't budge. The culprit is most often a spring that has snapped, an opener that has died or a remote that has forgotten its code, each a routine repair across Mandurah.
Quick Answer
If your garage door won't open, it is almost always one of five things: a snapped spring (the door is suddenly far too heavy for the motor), a failed opener or drive gear, a remote that has lost its pairing or battery, the manual release left disengaged, or the door jammed in its tracks. The quickest way to tell is to disengage the motor with the door fully down and try lifting by hand. If it won't budge or feels enormously heavy, the spring has gone and that is a spring replacement. If it lifts easily, the fault is the opener or the remote, which means a motor repair or a new remote programmed to your opener. Whichever it is, you get the price before any work starts. Never force a door that won't move: with a broken spring, the full weight is unsupported.
Common Causes
Snapped torsion spring
The most common cause. The spring carries almost the whole door's weight, so when it fatigues through, the motor can't lift what's left. It usually goes with a bang like a gunshot, and it's a job for garage door spring repair, not the opener.
Opener or drive gear failure
You get a hum, a click or silence. Older Merlin and B&D units tend to lose the teeth on their plastic drive gear, so the motor turns and the door goes nowhere.
Remote lost its pairing
The door itself is healthy and the signal is what's missing: a battery gone flat, an opener whose code memory is full, or an ageing receiver board.
Manual release still disengaged
The release cord was pulled during a blackout and the trolley was never hooked back on, so the motor runs without the door. It costs nothing to fix.
Door jammed in its tracks
A roller jumped from its guide, a kinked track or something wedged in the way holds the door shut, and driving the opener against it makes the damage worse.
No power to the opener
A safety switch that has tripped, a plug knocked out, or a power point switched off during other work. Rule these out first.
What You Can Check Safely
Safe to check yourself
- Look for a light on the powerhead, then check the safety switch (RCD) in your meter box
- Press the wall button: if the door runs from there but not from the remote, the handset is at fault
- Put a fresh battery in the remote before anything else
- Door fully DOWN, pull the release cord and try to lift it; a door that feels like dead weight has a broken spring
- Check the springs above the door for a clean break in the coil
Do not attempt
- Don't hammer the button; each attempt against a jam grinds the drive gear and bends the tracks
- Never pull the release on a door that has stopped part-way up; with no spring holding it, it can fall
- Leave the springs alone: winding or loosening one without the right tools can break bones
- Don't pry the door up with a crowbar; it creases panels and pops rollers out of the guides
When to Call a Technician
Call a technician straight away if any of the following apply:
- There was a loud bang in the garage just before the door stopped
- One of the springs has a visible break in the coil
- With the motor released, the door is too heavy for you to lift
- You can hear the motor running or humming while the door stays put, usually a job for garage door opener repair
- The door hangs crooked or a cable dangles loose
Recommended Services
Get Help With This Problem
Prefer to call? 0476 156 953Car trapped inside and you need it out?
Tell us that when you call: a trapped car is triaged ahead of routine work. Outside our published hours we attend emergencies, and the after-hours rate is confirmed before anyone is dispatched.
Frequently Asked Questions
Work from cheapest to dearest. Confirm the opener has power and try the wall button; if that works, the remote is the problem, so change the battery and re-pair it. If nothing responds, disengage the motor with the manual release (door fully down) and lift by hand. If it comes up easily the opener is at fault, and if it's immovably heavy a spring has snapped. Each is a different job, a spring replacement, an opener repair or a remote supplied and programmed, and we quote the one you need before starting.
Two possibilities: the command never reaches the opener, or the opener gets it and the door can't move. Wall button fine but remote dead points at the handset. Nothing from either while the light still works points at the drive gear or board. A motor that labours and gives up is fighting a door that's too heavy or jammed. Releasing the motor and lifting by hand sorts one from the other.
B&D units fail in a few predictable ways. Older Controll-A-Door openers can strip their plastic drive gear, which sounds like the motor running with nothing happening. Some lose their remote memory and need re-coding at the powerhead. And on any brand, a snapped spring stops the door however healthy the opener is. We repair and service every common Australian brand, including B&D, Merlin, ATA, Gliderol, Steel-Line and Jaytech. We carry the common gears and boards with us.
Only if the springs are intact. Pull the manual release cord with the door fully closed, then lift evenly from the centre. A balanced door rises with modest effort and stays where you leave it. If it's enormously heavy or drops back, stop: the spring has failed and the door's full weight is unsupported. Our guide to opening a garage door manually covers sectional, roller and tilt doors step by step.
Only if the door has an outside release: a key-operated release lock on the door or a release cable fitted for exactly this. Most homes don't have one, so the manual release has to be pulled from inside. If the garage is the only way in and there's no outside release, call us rather than forcing the door, because prising it from outside bends panels and can break the lock. An outside release can be fitted while we're there.
We work business hours. Our vans carry the common springs, cables, rollers and remotes. Most doors are opened and repaired on the first visit rather than made safe and revisited. Tell us your suburb and what the door is doing when you call and you will get a realistic arrival window, not an optimistic one.
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