Three checks find the cause of most of these in five minutes: the opener's power, the red disconnect cord, and how heavy the door feels by hand.
Check the opener has power. A dark light and a dead wall button usually mean a tripped breaker or an unplugged unit.
Look at the red disconnect cord. If it has been pulled, the opener runs without moving the door. Pull it again with the door fully down to re-engage.
Pull the disconnect and lift the door by hand a foot or two. A healthy door lifts with one hand and stays where you leave it.
Stop pulling if it fights you or feels like dead weight. That is a spring or a cable, and lifting it further risks the door coming back down on you.
A door that will not open has one of three things wrong: the opener is not getting the signal or the power, the opener is running but disconnected from the door, or the door itself has become too heavy to lift because a spring or cable has let go. The order matters, because the first two cost nothing to rule out and the third is the one that needs a truck. A bang from the garage followed by a door that strains and stops is a broken spring until proven otherwise.
The three checks above are safe and worth doing before you call, because they save you a visit when the answer is a breaker or a pulled cord. The line is the weight test. A door that is heavy by hand has lost its counterbalance, and everything past that point involves parts under load.
| Job | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Spring replacement | $200 to $330 | About an hour on site. If the door runs two springs, replacing both together is usually the better call, because they wear at the same rate and the second one tends to follow within months. |
Every job we price is listed on the garage door repair cost page, and what each involves is under repair services.
One of three things: the opener has no power or signal, the opener is disconnected from the door, or the door has lost its spring or a cable and become too heavy to lift. Checking the breaker, the red cord, and the door's weight by hand separates them in about five minutes.
It depends on which of the three it is. Power and disconnect problems usually cost nothing beyond the visit. A broken torsion spring, the most common mechanical cause, runs $200 to $330 installed. An opener or cable fault sits in a similar band, and we can usually tell you which one it is from what you describe on the phone.
The opener is hitting more weight than its force setting allows, which almost always means a spring has broken or lost tension. The opener gives up early on purpose rather than burn out its motor. Stop running it and have the spring looked at.
If the door lifts easily by hand after pulling the red cord, yes, lift it fully and prop nothing under it. If it is heavy or fights you, leave the car where it is and call. A door without its counterbalance can come down fast, and a car is cheaper to leave parked for a morning than a hand or a back.
Other problems we get called out for: broken garage door spring , garage door off track , garage door opener not working , garage door will not close , snapped garage door cable , noisy garage door , garage door remote not working .
Call before early afternoon and we can usually get out the same day.
Call (650) 376-6070