Garage door opener repair
Most opener faults come down to one of four things: a stripped drive gear, a failed logic board, limits that have drifted out of adjustment, or safety sensors that have been knocked out of line. Repair runs $185 to $390 depending on which. We'll tell you on site when a repair costs enough that replacement is the better value, rather than after the parts are on the bill.
Motor runs but the door doesn't move
Check the emergency release first, because it's the free fix. If the cord has been pulled, the trolley is disconnected from the door and the opener is running on its own. Reconnecting it takes a moment.
If the trolley is engaged, it's usually the nylon drive gear. That's the single most common failure on chain-drive units past about ten years, and it announces itself as a grinding noise while the door stays still. A gear kit is a straightforward repair.
Nothing happens at all
Start with power. A tripped GFCI, a breaker or an unplugged cord accounts for more dead openers than any component failure.
If there's power, try the wall button. If the wall button works and the remotes don't, the problem is the remotes or the receiver. If nothing works, it's the logic board or the capacitor, and boards commonly fail after a power surge.
The door reverses on the way down
That's almost always the photo eyes, the two sensors sitting four to six inches off the floor on each track. Something in the beam, a lens that needs wiping, a sensor knocked by a bin or a car door, or a corroded wire will all do it. The opener light usually blinks a set number of times to tell you so.
If the sensors are clean and aligned and it still reverses, the close force or the travel limit needs adjusting, or a bent track is making the door bind near the floor.
When repair stops making sense
Once the parts cost approaches the price of a new unit, replacement is better value, and that point arrives sooner on an older opener where the next component is close behind. We give you the repair price and the replacement price together and let you pick.
One thing that isn't a reason to replace: an older opener is not automatically unsafe or non-compliant. The federal requirement for photo eyes applies to what may be manufactured and sold, not to a unit already installed in your garage. If your opener has working sensors and reverses properly on an obstruction, it's doing its job.
Where we do this work
Newark, Fremont, Union City, Hayward. In Hayward that means 94545 and 94544 in the south of the city, not the whole of it.
Questions we get asked
My opener light blinks and the door won't close. What does that mean?
It's the safety sensors. The blink count is the opener telling you the beam is broken. Clear anything in the path, wipe both lenses, and check that both sensor lights are steady. If they aren't, one has been knocked out of alignment or a wire has failed.
Do you work on every brand?
We work on the common residential brands, and gear kits, boards and sensors are available for nearly all of them. If yours is old enough that parts are genuinely gone, we'll tell you that instead of guessing.
Is it worth repairing a fifteen-year-old opener?
Sometimes. A gear kit on an otherwise sound unit is good value. A logic board at fifteen years often isn't, because the next failure is close behind. We give you both numbers before you decide.
Get a price for opener repair
Call (510) 509-9998 and describe the door. We'll tell you what it usually is, what it usually costs, and when we can get to you.
Newark · Fremont · Union City · Hayward