Garage Door Opener Repair

Chain Drive, Belt Drive and Wall-Mount Openers

Chain drive openers are durable workhorses and the loudest type. Their chains stretch over time and need occasional tightening. Belt drive openers use a reinforced rubber belt and run much more quietly, which matters if there's a bedroom over the garage. Screw drive units turn a threaded rod that needs to stay lubricated, and plenty are still in service.

Wall-mount (jackshaft) openers sit on the wall beside the torsion shaft instead of on the ceiling. They keep the ceiling clear for storage and only work with torsion spring doors. Whichever type you have, we can repair it.

Common Garage Door Opener Problems

What we see most often, and what usually causes it:

• Motor runs, door doesn't move: a stripped drive gear, a broken trolley, or a snapped chain or belt.
• Door reverses as soon as it touches the floor: the down travel limit is set too far or the force is set too low.
• Door won't close and the opener light flashes: the photo-eye sensors are blocked, dirty, out of alignment or have a broken wire.
• Nothing happens at all: a power problem, a tripped GFCI outlet, a failed capacitor or a dead logic board.
• Works from the wall button but not the remote: a dead remote battery, lost programming or a failing receiver.
• Works on and off in hot weather: a circuit board or capacitor on its way out, which a hot Southern California garage exposes fast.
• Grinding from the motor unit: the drive gear is wearing itself out, and the sprocket may be next.

Garage Door Safety Sensor Problems

Every opener made since 1993 has photo-eye safety sensors mounted about six inches off the floor on each side of the door. They're a federal requirement, and they're the most common reason a door refuses to close.

The cause is usually simple: a bike leaning against one, a cobweb on a lens, afternoon sun shining into the receiver, or a bracket that got bumped. Sometimes a wire is pinched or chewed. We realign or repair the sensors and keep them working, because an opener without working sensors can close on a pet or a child.

Garage door sensor repair →

Should You Repair or Replace Your Garage Door Opener?

Gears, sprockets, belts, chains, sensors, capacitors and even logic boards can all be replaced. On an opener less than about ten years old, repair usually makes sense.

Replacement is the better value when the logic board fails on an older unit where boards are hard to find, when several parts are failing at once, or when you want what a newer opener offers: a quieter belt drive, battery backup and phone control. Any replacement opener installed in California must have battery backup by law, and every one we install does.

Call us and describe what the opener is doing. Many opener problems can be pinned down over the phone, and you'll get a firm price before we start.