Garage Door Will Not Open: 6 Checks Before You Call
Start with the wall button. If the door runs from the wall button and ignores the remote, the fault is in the remote. If nothing responds at all, check the outlet, the photo eyes, the manual lock, the lock button on the wall console and the red release cord. Those six checks clear most no-open calls. A loud bang before the door quit means a broken spring, and that one is hands off.
A fair number of the no-open calls we take end with the tech pointing at a knocked photo eye or a dead nine volt battery. None of the six checks below involve tools, tension or standing under a raised door. Work through them in order and you will either fix it in five minutes or know exactly what to tell us on the phone.
One rule before you start. If the door is part way up, stay out from under it. If you heard a bang, skip to the last section.
1. Is the opener getting power?
Look up at the opener head. A powered unit shows a small LED somewhere on the housing, usually near the light lens or the learn button. No light means no power.
Garage outlets in Plano homes are often on a GFCI circuit shared with the exterior outlets and the bathroom. A GFCI that tripped during a storm takes the opener with it. Find the outlet with the test and reset buttons, press reset, then check your breaker panel for a tripped breaker. Also check that the opener plug has not been knocked loose by a ladder or a storage rack.
2. Does it run from the wall button?
This is the single most useful test, because it splits the problem in half.
If the wall button works and the remote does not, the opener and the door are fine. Change the remote battery first. If a new battery does not fix it, the remote needs reprogramming to the opener, which is a button on the back of the head unit and a page in the manual. Outdoor keypads fail the same way, and their batteries live behind the flip-up cover.
If neither the wall button nor the remote does anything, the fault sits in the opener, its power or its safety circuit. Carry on down the list.
3. Are the photo eyes lined up?
Two small sensors sit on the track brackets a few inches off the floor, facing each other across the opening. They are the reason a closing door reverses when a bike rolls underneath it. Every residential opener made for sale in the United States since January 1, 1993 has had to carry a device like this under the federal standard at 16 CFR Part 1211.
Most units show a steady LED on both sensors when the beam is clear. A blinking or dark LED means the beam is broken or the pair is out of alignment. Common causes in a Collin County garage:
- A bag of mulch, a trash can or a bike wheel parked in the beam.
- Dust and spider web on the lens. Wipe it with a dry cloth.
- A bracket bumped by a car door or a mower.
- Low afternoon sun hitting the receiver lens straight on, which shows up on west facing doors in East Plano around sunset and clears on its own.
Gently square the sensor up by hand until both LEDs go steady. If the wing nut on the bracket is loose, snug it by hand.
4. Is the door locked?
Two different locks stop a door dead and neither one is obvious.
The first is the manual slide lock, a bar on the inside of the door that shoots into a slot in the track. Plenty of Plano doors still have one from before the opener went in. If it is thrown, the opener will strain, click or reverse. Slide it back.
The second is the lock button on the wall console, sometimes labelled Lock or Vacation. Hold it by accident and the opener stops answering remotes while the wall button keeps working. Press and hold it for a couple of seconds to clear it. A blinking light on the console usually means it is engaged.
5. Is the trolley disconnected?
The red cord hanging from the rail disconnects the door from the opener so you can lift it by hand. If someone pulled it during a power cut, the motor will run and the door will sit still.
With the door fully closed, pull the cord toward the door to re-engage, then run the opener once. On most units the trolley clicks back onto the carriage on the next cycle. Never pull that cord while the door is raised.
6. What is the door itself telling you?
Stand inside with the opener unplugged and look at the hardware.
| What you see | What it usually means | Safe to keep trying? |
|---|---|---|
| Gap of an inch or two in a spring above the door | Broken torsion spring | No. Stop. |
| Cable hanging loose or piled on the floor | Cable off the drum | No. Stop. |
| Door sits crooked, one side lower | Off track or a failed cable | No. Stop. |
| Motor hums, nothing moves | Stripped drive gear or sheared trolley | No. Call. |
| Door opens a foot then reverses | Obstruction, worn roller, or sensor fault | Clear the track, then call |
| Everything looks normal, opener silent | Power, lock or logic board | Yes, recheck 1 to 5 |
When should you stop and pick up the phone?
Three symptoms end the DIY part of this.
A loud bang followed by a door that will not lift is a broken torsion spring. The door is now carrying its full weight, commonly 150 to 250 pounds on a Plano double. Do not force it, do not run the opener and do not touch the springs or try to adjust their tension. That energy has to be released with proper winding bars by someone who does it for a living.
A slack or snapped cable means the door can drop. Leave it closed and park outside.
A door hanging part way open at an angle is off track and under load. Stay out from under it and keep children and pets out of the garage.
In all three cases the safe move is the same: leave the door down if it is down, leave the opener unplugged and call.
If the checks came up empty
Run through the six once more, then tell us what you found. Knowing that the wall button is dead but the outlet has power tells us which parts to pull off the shelf before we drive out. Our opener repair and installation page covers gear kits, logic boards, sensors and replacement units, and a yearly tune-up catches most of this before it strands a car.