Safety first
Garage door springs and cables are under high tension. Do not adjust or undo them, and do not loosen any bolt or bracket on the door. If the door is heavy, crooked or jammed, keep clear of it and call 03 8789 9398.
Thirty-second check: what is the door doing?
Press the remote once, then the wall button if your opener has one, and watch what happens. Find the closest match in the table.
| What you see | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing at all. No light, no sound. | No power to the opener | Test the power point with a lamp. The steps are below. |
| The wall button works, the remote does not | The remote's battery or its coding | Change the battery, then see garage door remote not working. |
| The motor runs or hums, the door stays still | The opener is in manual mode, the door is locked, a part in the motor has failed, or a spring has broken | Check the lock, then see "manual mode" further down this page. Do not keep pressing the remote. |
| The door lifts a little, then stops | Often a broken spring | Stop. Leave the door closed and call. |
| You heard a loud bang | A broken spring or a snapped cable | Stop. Keep clear of the door and call 03 8789 9398. |
| The door is crooked, jerky or jammed | A cable, track or guide problem | Switch off the opener. Do not force the door. Call. |
This table is a starting point. The same sign can have more than one cause, and the technician confirms it on site.
Check the simple things first
These checks come from opener makers' own troubleshooting guides. None of them means touching the springs, cables or brackets.
Power
Most openers are plug-in appliances that run from a normal power point. If the opener shows no light and makes no sound, plug a lamp into that power point. If the lamp stays dark, check the switchboard. If the lamp lights and the opener is still dead, book a repair.
Remote battery and wall button
A flat battery is the first thing to rule out. AGG Doors says a new battery fixes a dead remote most of the time. Many remotes take a CR2032 3V coin battery, but check yours before you buy one.
Then try the wall button. If the door opens from there, the motor and the door are working, and the trouble is with the remote or its signal. The remote guide covers the next step, which is re-coding. That means pairing the remote with the opener again.
Is the door locked?
If the door has a lock, check that it is undone. Merlin's manual for its MR855 roller door opener lists a locked door as one reason the motor hums while the door stays put.
Take the key out as well. A roller door should never be raised with the key left in the lock, because the lock can be damaged and the key bent or broken. If the lock is stiff to turn, B&D says to use powdered graphite, not oil or grease.
Is the opener in manual mode?
Automatic doors have a manual release, usually a red cord, so the door can be moved by hand. If someone has pulled it, the opener is disengaged, which means the motor is no longer joined to the door. The motor runs and the door stays where it is. On an ATA GDO-11, the sign is a chain that moves while the door stays still.
Release designs differ by brand and model, so follow your opener's manual to re-engage it. AGG Doors keeps manuals for many openers on its website.
Has the remote been locked out?
Some openers have a vacation mode. On the ATA GDO-11 and the B&D Controll-A-Door Diamond PD, a remote can be set to switch off the opener's radio receiver. Remotes then stop working until the mode is reset. If all your remotes stopped at the same time, look up vacation mode in your manual.
Signs of a broken spring
Springs do the lifting on a garage door. They store energy as the door closes and hand it back as the door opens. A panel door's weight can approach or pass 200 kg, so when a spring breaks, the opener is left with a load it was never meant to carry.
The usual signs are:
- a loud bang from the garage
- a door that suddenly feels very heavy
- an opener that runs while the door lifts only a little
- a gap you can see in the coil of a torsion spring, which is the spring on the shaft above a panel door's opening
- a door that lifts unevenly or sits crooked
If you see any of these, stop pressing the remote. An opener is not designed to do the springs' job. Running it against a broken spring can damage the opener or make the door move unsafely.
On a roller door the springs are often inside the roll, which is the drum the door winds onto, so there is no gap to look for. A roller door that strains the motor, rolls up loosely or will not stay up needs its springs re-tensioned by a technician. See roller door repairs.
Standard home springs are typically rated for about 10,000 to 20,000 cycles. One cycle is one open and one close. Rowville averages 2.2 motor vehicles per home (2021 Census), and a door that is used more wears its springs sooner.
Signs of a cable or track problem
On a panel door, a steel lift cable on each side runs from a bracket at the bottom of the door up to a drum on the spring shaft. The cables carry the door's full weight. Signs of cable trouble are:
- one side of the door sitting lower than the other
- a door that jerks or moves unevenly
- fraying, kinks or corrosion you can see on a cable
- a snap or bang, after which the door stops working
A panel door can also come off its tracks. The usual causes are a knock from a car, worn or damaged rollers, a broken cable, a bent or misaligned track, or something sitting in the track. The panel door repairs guide explains these parts.
A roller door's steel sheet is called the curtain, and it runs in a guide on each side. The door can jam if the strips fitted along the curtain's edges have slipped, or if the guides are dirty or no longer straight.
Whichever it is, switch off the opener, do not force the door and call.
Need the car out?
The manual release lets you open an automatic door by hand. Whether you should use it depends on the state of the door.
- Reasonable to use it: the door is fully closed, sits level and was working normally until the power or the opener failed. Makers say to use the release with the door closed wherever possible, because an open door can fall fast if its springs are weak or broken.
- Do not use it: the door is crooked, jammed, unusually heavy, partly open or moving unpredictably.
There is no single method. Release designs differ by brand and model, and not every roller door motor uses a red cord. Follow the manual for your opener. For roller doors, AGG Doors has notes on disengaging a roller door motor.
If the door is released and is too heavy to lift by hand, that points to a spring problem. Leave it closed and call.
Many openers hold the door locked only while they are engaged. Once the release is pulled the door is no longer locked, so re-engage the opener after the car is out.
When to stop and call
Stop and call if you heard a bang, the door feels heavy, it sits crooked, you can see a frayed cable or the door has left its tracks. The ATA GDO-11 manual warns that doors, springs, brackets and their hardware are under extreme tension, and tells owners not to attempt any garage door adjustment.
Safe to check yourself
- The power point, using a lamp
- The remote's battery
- Whether the wall button opens the door
- Whether the door is locked or the key is still in the lock
- A look from a safe distance for a gap in the spring or a frayed cable
Leave to a technician
- Springs, cables and the brackets at the bottom of the door
- The U-bolts and brackets that hold a roller door's roll
- A door that is heavy, crooked, jammed or off its tracks
Do not keep pressing the remote on a door that will not lift.
Some openers signal when they are overloaded. On an ATA GDO-11, the green Open light and the red Close light flashing in turn mean the opener is overloaded. Stop using it and call. B&D says nine flashes on its openers mean an overload or a stall. Other models use different signals, so check your manual.
What the fix usually costs
A repair visit starts with the call-out. For a Rowville address that is $249, with GST and the technician's labour on site included. Parts and larger repairs are quoted on top, and nothing is fitted until you agree. After-hours call-outs cost more, and the rate is confirmed when you ring.
AGG Doors publishes these prices for repairs that can sit behind a door that will not open:
- Torsion spring replacement: from $459 for one spring, or from $699 for a set of two. The quote is fixed on site once the door has been measured.
- Cable replacement: from $449 when the cable drums are at the front of the door, or from $539 when they are at the rear.
- Opener repair: the $249 call-out plus parts.
- Opener replacement: typically from $899 supplied and installed.
Send photos of the door and motor with your quote request, say what the door is doing, and we can give you a rough estimate before you book. The repair cost guide has the full list. To book a standard visit, call 03 8789 9397. Bookings are usually available within one to two business days.
Questions about a door that won't open
Why does my garage door lift a little and then stop?
That is a common sign of a broken spring. The opener runs, but it is not built to lift the door without the springs' help. Stop pressing the remote, leave the door closed and call.
The motor hums but the door does not move. Why?
AGG Doors finds the most common cause is a failed capacitor, which is a part inside the motor. Merlin's MR855 manual lists three more things to rule out: the opener has been left in manual release, a spring has broken, or the door is locked.
Can I lift the door by hand if the spring is broken?
Do not try. The force a spring stores is roughly equal to the weight of the door, so with a broken spring that weight comes back onto whoever lifts it. A raised door with weak or broken springs can also fall fast.
The door works from the wall button but not the remote. What now?
Then the motor and the door are working. Fit a fresh battery in the remote first. If that does not fix it, the remote may need re-coding to the opener, which our remote guide covers.
Could cold weather stop my garage door opening?
It can. Cold can affect lubrication, the motor, the door's balance and the electronics. A door that only plays up in winter may already have worn parts, so it is worth having it checked.
My car is stuck in the garage. How soon can you come?
Ring the emergency line on 03 8789 9398, which is answered at any hour. We aim to get a technician to you the same day, either to fix the door or to make it safe. If a part is not on the van, the technician makes the door safe and secure before leaving and comes back with the part.