Fault diagnosis
Why Your Garage Door Won't Close
A garage door that won't close is almost always a safety system doing its job. The opener has been told something is in the way, so it refuses to travel down and usually flashes a code at you. Sorting it means working out what the opener is seeing: a broken beam, a limit setting, or a physical obstruction.
Safety first: A door that will not close is an open house. Do not prop it, wedge it, or tie it shut with rope. If you need to secure the garage tonight, pull the emergency release and lower the door by hand only if it feels light and evenly balanced, and stand clear of the opening while you do it.
What causes it
These are the causes we find most often, in roughly the order we check them.
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1
Blocked or misaligned photo-eye sensors
Every opener sold in Australia since the mid-1990s has a pair of infrared safety eyes mounted about 150mm off the slab. If the beam between them is broken, or the two units are not pointing at each other, the opener will not allow a down travel. It is a safety interlock, not a fault you can override.
What you can check
Look along the bottom of both tracks. Each eye carries a small indicator light and both should be steady. Wipe the lenses with a dry cloth and clear anything sitting in the beam path, including a bin, a bike or a coiled hose.
What we do
We realign the brackets, re-terminate any wire that has been pinched by a staple or chewed by a rodent, and replace eyes that have failed internally. Where the original sensors are obsolete we fit a matched pair and re-test the reversal against a 40mm timber block.
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2
Close limit set too far
The opener learns how far to travel down. If that stored figure creeps past the floor, which is common after a new floor coating or once the door has settled, the opener drives the bottom rail into the slab, senses the resistance and stops or reverses before it seals.
What you can check
Watch the door on the way down. If it touches the floor and the motor keeps straining, or it halts 20mm short every single time, the travel limit is out. Do not start adjusting it yourself if the door also feels heavy by hand.
What we do
We reset the down limit and the down force to the manufacturer's specification, run a full cycle and re-check the auto-reverse. On older openers with mechanical limit screws we also check the limit nuts have not worked loose on the shaft.
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3
Something in the track or on the threshold
A roller that meets debris, a stone, a bent track lip or a build-up of leaves in a roller door guide will stall the door. The opener reads the extra load as an obstruction and stops rather than forcing through it.
What you can check
With the door up, run your eye along both vertical tracks and along the floor line where the door lands. Sweep the threshold. On a roller door, look into the side guides for grit, spider nests or a bent lip near the bottom.
What we do
We clear and clean the guides, straighten minor lip damage, and replace track sections that have been kerbed or crushed. Rollers with flat spots or seized bearings are swapped out, and we lubricate with a dry silicone rather than a wet oil that collects sand.
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4
A transmitter stuck on
A wall console with a jammed button, or a remote wedged in a car console with a button held down, keeps sending a command. Many openers treat a continuous signal as a request to stay open and simply refuse to close.
What you can check
Take the batteries out of every remote and keypad you own, then try the wall button. If the door closes, one of those transmitters was the culprit. Also check that nothing is leaning against the wall console.
What we do
We identify the transmitter that is stuck on, replace the button or the handset, and where the receiver has latched we clear the code memory and re-pair only the remotes you actually hold. Faulty wall consoles are swapped for a matched unit.
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5
Opener lock or holiday mode engaged
Most modern wall consoles have a lock or vacation button that disables the remotes and, on some brands, parks the door open. It is easy to press by accident with a shoulder or a broom handle, and the door then ignores the usual commands.
What you can check
Look for a small padlock symbol or a lock indicator on the wall console. Press and hold it for a few seconds and watch whether the light goes out, then try the door again from the console.
What we do
If the console will not release the lock we test the logic board output, replace the console, or reload the opener's factory defaults where the brand allows it. We also show you the button so it does not catch you out a second time.
When to stop and phone someone
If you have wiped the lenses, cleared the track and the door still will not seal, stop there. The next steps involve limit and force settings that hold the auto-reverse safety, and getting them wrong disables the protection the door depends on. Call now for same-day service across Perth with no call-out fee.
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Questions
Garage Door Won't Close — questions we get
Why does my garage door reverse instead of closing?
Can I disable the safety sensors so the door closes?
How much does it cost to fix a garage door that won't close?
Can I close the door by hand until you arrive?
Still not sure what is wrong? Phone 0482 911 999 and we will talk it through.
Same-day service
Garage Door Won't Close? We can be there today.
Describe what the door is doing and we will tell you the likely cause, the likely price, and when we can get to you.
- No call-out fee
- Fixed price before we start
- 12-month warranty