A garage door that won’t open is most often a broken torsion spring, which leaves the door far too heavy for the opener to lift. The other common causes are simpler: no power to the opener, a dead remote battery or lock mode on the wall control, a manual lock engaged on the door, a disengaged emergency release, or a snapped lift cable.
| What you see | Likely cause | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing happens, opener light stays off | No power to the opener | Check the outlet and the breaker |
| Wall button works, remote doesn’t | Dead battery or lock mode | Replace the battery, turn off lock mode |
| Door lifts a few inches, then stops | Broken torsion spring | Do not operate, call a technician |
| Trolley moves but the door doesn’t | Emergency release disengaged | Reconnect the trolley |
| Door won’t budge even by hand | Manual lock engaged or broken spring | Check the lock, then call a technician |
Torsion springs do the heavy lifting on a garage door, not the opener. When one snaps, usually with a loud bang from the garage, the door suddenly weighs its full weight and the opener can only strain, lift it a few inches and stop. Look at the spring on the bar above the closed door: a gap of an inch or two between the coils means it has broken. That is a spring repair job, and it is the single most common reason a door won’t open.
If the spring is intact, the cause is usually simpler. An opener that does nothing at all may have lost power at the outlet or the breaker. If the wall button works but the remote doesn’t, the battery is flat or the wall control is in lock mode. A door that has been locked by hand with a slide bolt will not open however hard the opener pulls, and an opener that runs without moving the door has usually been disconnected by the emergency release. Those are quick checks; anything beyond them points to the opener or a cable.
WARNING: Do not try to lift a door with a broken spring. Without the spring, the full weight of the door is in your hands and it can drop without warning. Do not pull the emergency release either, because a door with a broken spring can slam shut once it is disconnected. Leave it closed and call a technician.
If the light on the opener does not come on at all, check that it is plugged in and that the breaker has not tripped. Power cuts and tripped garage circuits are a common reason for a dead opener.
Press the wall button. If it works and the remote doesn’t, replace the remote battery. If neither works, check whether the wall control is in lock or vacation mode.
From a safe distance, look at the spring on the bar above the closed door. A visible gap in the coil means it has broken. Do not touch it, and stop trying to open the door.
Make sure any slide lock or locking bar on the inside of the door is released. If the trolley moves along the rail without the door, the emergency release has been pulled and the trolley needs reconnecting.
These mean a part has failed, and the door should stay closed until it is repaired:
Related guides: signs of a broken garage door spring, opener runs but the door won’t move and garage door won’t close.
If the light comes on but the door doesn’t move, the most common causes are a broken spring, a manual lock engaged on the door, or a disengaged emergency release. Check the spring first, from a safe distance.
You shouldn’t. Without the spring the door carries its full weight and can drop suddenly. Leave it closed and call a technician, who can secure it and replace the spring the same visit.
Cold weather is when worn springs most often break, and it also stiffens the lubricant and the door itself. If the door won’t open on a freezing morning, check the spring before trying again.
Yes, if the springs are intact. Close the door if it’s partly open, pull the emergency release, and lift. A healthy door feels light and stays put when let go halfway. If it feels very heavy, stop, because a spring may be broken.
Related services: broken spring repair, garage door opener repair and cable replacement.
