My Garage Door Will Not Close
Look at the two small sensors near the floor on each side of the opening. A dark or blinking light is almost always the whole problem, and the fix usually needs no parts. Navarro Garage Door fixes this across Fremont, Newark and Union City, from $200 when it is the opener. Open 24 hours, seven days a week. Call (510) 443-1883.
Right now
Do this before anyone arrives
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Check both sensor lights
Both should be on and steady. A blinking light means the pair is out of line.
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Wipe the lenses
Use a dry cloth on both, and clear anything sitting between them.
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Line up the blinking sensor
Nudge it gently until its light goes steady, then try the door.
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Hold the wall button down
Most openers close on a held button even with a sensor fault, which confirms the sensors are the cause.
How to tell
Signs it is the sensors
- The door starts down, stops, and travels back up
- The opener light flashes when you try to close it
- It closes from the wall button held down, but not from the remote
- One sensor light is dark, blinking, or a different color than the other
- It closes fine some days and refuses on others
Why
What causes it
An opener refuses to close when it can't confirm the doorway is clear. The photo eyes near the floor send a beam across the opening, and anything that interrupts or misaligns it makes the opener treat the doorway as blocked. A bumped bracket, a cobweb, a leaf, low sun straight into the lens, or a slowly sagging mount all do it. Intermittent refusal is the giveaway that the beam is borderline rather than broken. When the sensors check out and the door still reverses, the close force or the travel limit needs setting, and that is opener work.
Do it yourself?
Where the line is
Cleaning and lining up the sensors is a homeowner job, and it fixes the usual cause. Leave the close force setting alone, though. That setting is what makes the door reverse off a person, and turning it up to push past a sensor fault takes that away.
Power cut
Closing the door in a power cut
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Check the door first
Nothing under it, and the springs and cables look whole. If a spring or cable is broken, leave the door up and call.
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Pull the red release cord
Pull it down and toward the back of the garage. The door is now free of the opener.
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Lower it by hand
Hold the door with both hands and bring it down slowly and evenly. A balanced door stays wherever you stop it.
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Lock it until the power is back
Use the side lock if the door has one. When the power returns, run the opener: on most models the carriage reconnects on its own.
The fix
Opener repair in Fremontfrom $200
When the sensors check out: close force, travel limits or the logic board.
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Questions
Door won't close questions
Why does my garage door start closing then go back up?
The safety sensors, nearly every time. If either light near the floor is blinking or dark, the beam is interrupted or out of line and the opener refuses to complete the close. Cleaning the lenses and straightening the brackets fixes most of these without a part.
How much does it cost to fix a garage door that won't close?
Often no part at all, because a sensor realignment is quick. When it is the opener itself, the logic board or the travel limits, repair starts at $200.
How do I close my garage door when the power is out?
If the springs and cables look whole, pull the red release cord down and back, then lower the door slowly by hand. Use the side lock if it has one. When the power returns, run the opener and the carriage reconnects on most models. A door with a battery backup opener closes as normal.
Can I bypass the safety sensors to close my door?
Hold the wall button down instead. Most openers close on a held button even with a sensor fault, which confirms the diagnosis and gets the house shut for the night. Wiring the sensors out or taping them face to face is a different thing. That reverse-on-obstruction system is what keeps a closing door off a person, and it has been required on every opener built since 1993.
The sensors look fine but the door still won't close. What then?
Then it is the opener rather than the doorway. The close force or the down limit has drifted, or the board is misreading. Both are settings we adjust on the visit, and it is the same call as any opener repair.