Garage Door Won't Open: What to Check First
The button does nothing, or the motor runs and the door stays put. Work out whether it is the spring, the opener or the remote before anyone touches it.
Quick Answer
When a garage door won't open, the cause is usually one of five things: a broken torsion spring, an opener with no power or a stripped drive gear, a flat or unpaired remote, a manual release left disengaged, or a door jammed in its tracks. Check the opener has a light, then try the wall button. If the motor runs but the door stays down, or you heard a bang earlier, stop pressing. In Perth we diagnose all five and price the repair before starting.
Common Causes
Snapped torsion spring
The spring does the lifting and the motor only steers. Once a coil breaks the door is dead weight, and the fix is a garage door spring replacement, never a DIY one.
Opener with no drive
The light comes on and the motor hums, yet the trolley never moves. A worn nylon gear or a tired roller-door gearbox is the usual culprit, and both come under opener and motor repair.
Remote flat or unpaired
If the wall button lifts the door and the remote does not, the door itself is fine. Suspect the battery, or a receiver that lost its stored codes after a power cut.
Release cord left pulled
Someone used the red cord in a blackout and the carriage never clicked back in, so the motor travels and the door stays shut. Our guide to opening a garage door by hand shows how to re-engage it.
Jammed in its tracks
A roller out of its guide, a kinked rail or a lock bar still slid across will hold the door down. Driving the opener against it bends more metal.
No power at the powerhead
A tripped safety switch, a power point switched off behind the fridge, or a storm surge through the circuit board. Rule it out before calling anyone.
What You Can Check Safely
Safe to check yourself
- Look for a light on the motor unit; if it is dark, test the power point with a lamp and check the safety switch
- Press the wall button instead of the remote — if the door lifts, the fault is on the remote side
- Fit a fresh battery in the remote and try again from inside the garage
- With the door shut, look up at the spring: a clean gap in the coil means it has broken and the door must stay down
- On older doors, make sure the lock bar or key lock is not still engaged
Do not attempt
- Do not keep pressing the button; every attempt against a jammed or unsprung door wears the gear and bends track
- Do not pull the release cord unless the door is fully closed — without a working spring, a raised door falls
- Do not touch the springs, cable drums or winding cones; a wound spring holds enough energy to take fingers off
- Do not lever the door up with a crowbar or a car jack; the bottom panel buckles first
When to Call a Technician
Call a technician straight away if any of the following apply:
- A loud bang came from the garage before it stopped working
- There is a visible gap in the spring coil
- Disconnected from the motor, the door will not lift or feels like dead weight
- The motor hums or runs and nothing moves
- The door sits crooked or a cable hangs slack
Recommended Services
What Perth Customers Say
“Al was amazing and talked me through getting my door open which had jammed! Absolutely recommend 💯”
Stephanie Smith · Repairs
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Get Help With This Problem
Prefer to call? 0422 828 800Car trapped inside and you need it out?
Tell us your suburb and what the door did when it failed. We cover across all of Perth, from Yanchep to Mandurah, 24 hours a day, make the door safe and price the repair before starting — there is no call-out fee.
Frequently Asked Questions
Start with the cheap checks: a light on the opener, the wall button, the remote battery, and whether the red release cord has been pulled. Then look, without touching, at the spring above the door. An intact spring with a dead opener means an electrical or drive fault that can wait for a visit. A broken spring or a crooked door means leave it alone completely, because neither the opener nor you should be lifting it.
The motor has lost its connection to the door. Watch the rail while someone presses the button. If the trolley travels and the door does not, the carriage is disengaged: with the door closed, clip it back on or run the opener until it latches. If nothing on the rail moves, either the gear inside the opener has stripped or a broken spring has made the door too heavy to shift. Both need a technician.
Only if an external key release is fitted — a small keyed lock near the top of the door that pulls the release cable. Plenty of Australian doors never had one. Without it, and with no side door, do not prise the door up; a locked sectional bends before it opens. A roller door with a working key lock can be unlocked and lifted once the motor is disengaged. Otherwise ring us and we will find the least damaging way in.
From inside, yes, as long as the springs are intact. With the door fully closed, pull the release cord and lift evenly from the middle; a balanced door rises with modest effort and stays where you leave it. From outside you need that external key release. If the door feels impossibly heavy or drops back, a spring has failed and it should stay shut. Openers with a battery backup keep working through short blackouts.
Which cause it turns out to be sets the price. Re-engaging a carriage or re-coding a remote is small; a drive gear or circuit board sits in the middle; a spring pair, or a spring plus the cables it took with it, is the bigger job. Door size and type, and whether you need us after hours, move it too. You get the figure after diagnosis and before any work, and our garage door repair cost guide walks through typical jobs. There is no call-out fee.
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