Garage Door Opener Not Working
My garage door opener stopped working — what should I check first?
What is actually causing it
Most likely first, based on what our crews find on the call.
01No power at the outlet
Garage ceiling receptacles are usually GFCI-protected and share a circuit with the exterior outlets. A tripped GFCI in a completely different part of the garage will kill the opener. Reset it and check the breaker before anything else.
Safe to check yourself, with the door closed and the opener unplugged.
02Dead remote and keypad batteries
If the wall button works and nothing wireless does, it is batteries or programming, not the opener. Coin cells lose capacity fast in a hot garage.
Safe to check yourself, with the door closed and the opener unplugged.
03Motor hums but nothing moves
A humming motor with a still chain is a stripped drive gear, a failed capacitor or a disengaged trolley. If the chain moves and the door does not, it is the trolley.
Do not attempt this yourself. It is under spring or cable load and it injures people every year — this one is a licensed-technician job.
04Logic board damaged by a surge
Openers sit on unprotected circuits and take the hit when the power comes back after an outage. A board that shows no LEDs at all, or that behaves erratically after a storm or a utility restoration, is usually done.
Do not attempt this yourself. It is under spring or cable load and it injures people every year — this one is a licensed-technician job.
05Burned-out motor or capacitor
A unit past fifteen years old that clicks and does nothing has usually reached the end. At that age a repair is often within a couple hundred dollars of a new opener with a warranty.
Do not attempt this yourself. It is under spring or cable load and it injures people every year — this one is a licensed-technician job.
06Wall control wire broken or shorted
The two low-voltage conductors to the wall button are frequently stapled through, pinched behind drywall or chewed. A short there can disable the whole unit.
Do not attempt this yourself. It is under spring or cable load and it injures people every year — this one is a licensed-technician job.
Why this happens more in California
In the desert markets — the Coachella Valley, Imperial Valley, the Mojave and the southern San Joaquin — an uninsulated attached garage runs far above the already extreme outdoor summer temperature, and openers there fail years earlier than the same model in a coastal city. Heat is hardest on the electrolytic capacitors and the logic board, and it shortens remote coin-cell life to a fraction of the rated figure. It is also worth knowing that under California law residential garage door openers sold or installed in the state must include a battery backup, so a modern replacement will keep working through an outage.
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Frequently asked questions
My garage door opener stopped working — what should I check first?
Is this safe for me to fix myself?
How much will the repair cost?
Are you licensed?
Describe the noise. We will tell you what broke.
Most calls are diagnosed in under two minutes, with a price range before anyone drives out.
CA-GARAGEDOOR California — California contractor licence CSLB #1098234. Licensed, bonded and insured. 1-year parts & labor.