Garage Door Opener Repair in Houston, TX
Garage & Gate Service Pros is your local, automatic garage door opener repair and service company. We service ALL makes and models, including LiftMaster, Chamberlain, Genie garage door openers and more.
Is your garage door reversing back open when you try to close it?
Photo eye on its bracket beside the door track
Garage door opener travel reversal can occur due to a number of different reasons. An onsite inspection is critical to help troubleshoot why this problem is happening. It doesn’t matter if you have a Chamberlain garage door opener, Genie garage door opener, or any other brand. Unknown problems with your actual garage door, which the opener may be sensing as its traveling up or down, can cause the opener to stop and reverse back open. Reversal of your opener can also be caused by faulty wiring, misaligned or defective safety sensors. If the safety sensors are not installed and functioning properly, that will result in an automatic reversal of travel. Other reasons for reversal could be a defective logic board or RPM sensor. All of these issues are repairable, and we at Garage Service Pros have many years of experience troubleshooting these garage door opener problems on a daily basis. We would welcome the opportunity to inspect your garage door opener and repair it at a reasonable price.
Is your motor running, but the door isn’t traveling up or down?
This common issue will arise when there are stripped gears on certain components in the garage door opener. This problem will occur mostly in Craftsman, Chamberlain, and LiftMaster chain driven garage door openers. A similar stripped component can also happen in belt driven openers as well, it’s just not as common. Both the chain and belt drive openers have a gear & sprocket assembly. These gears can get stripped due to excessive pressure with the door being out of balance, which often points to worn garage door springs. Age and usage is also another driving factor. Again, an onsite inspection is essential to helping us figure out exactly which parts are causing the issue.
Stripped-Gears
Stripped Gears & Sprocket
How we diagnose an opener
We start with the door, not the opener. A door that is out of balance makes the opener work too hard, and that is a common reason for stripped gears. Once the door checks out, we look at the opener: the gears, the travel limits, the wiring and the photo eyes. Then we tell you what we found and what it needs.
What we check on every opener visit
- Door balance and springs
- Photo eye alignment and wiring
- Travel limits and force settings
- Gears, chain or belt, and trolley
- Remote, keypad and wall button
- Safety reverse test before we leave
Don’t take our word for it. Here’s what Houston homeowners say, from over 800 verified reviews on our Google listings.
Garage Opener Repair vs. Garage Opener Replacement?
These are just a few, of the many issues, resulting in a need for your garage door opener to be repaired. All garage door opener repairs are situational. When addressing problems, we will always take into account the age, size, and condition of the current opener to determine whether repair or replacement is the best avenue to proceed. If it is determined that your garage door opener cannot be repaired, or maybe it’s just time for a replacement, we offer the industry leading Chamberlain LiftMaster as our preferred and exclusive opener manufacturer.
Chamberlain LiftMaster is the #1 consumer rated garage door opener on the market. When choosing your new LiftMaster garage door opener, you will have many models to choose from. For guidance on deciding which model would be best for you, please head over to our LiftMaster page »
Need help with your garage door or garage door opener? Call us and we’ll get you scheduled as soon as possible. Garage Service Pros is fully insured and offers fast reliable service. Call us at 281-928-1837 or schedule your repair online »
Power Out? Door Stuck? Try This First
- Manual release: Close the door if you can, then pull the red release cord down. You can lift the door by hand. If it feels very heavy or drops fast, leave it alone. That points to a spring, and a spring can hurt you.
- Back to the opener: When the power is back, pull the red cord toward the opener at a slight angle and run the opener. It reconnects when the door moves.
- Safe checks before you call:
- Make sure the opener is plugged in and the outlet works. Check the breaker.
- Check that the wall control Lock button isn’t on. Remotes and keypads won’t work when it is.
- Replace the battery in your remote or keypad.
- Wipe the safety sensor lenses and make sure nothing is blocking them.
- Look for anything lying in the door track.
- Please don’t: touch the springs, cables or the brackets at the bottom of the door. They are under high tension.
Realign the Safety Eyes
If your door goes down and pops back up, or the opener light flashes and the door won’t close, the safety eyes are the first thing to check. They are the two small sensors about six inches off the floor, one on each side of the door.
- Make sure nothing is in the path of the door and the area is clear.
- Wipe both sensor lenses with a soft cloth.
- Look at the light on each sensor. Both should be steady. A blinking light or no light means the sensor is out of line or has a wire problem.
- Loosen the wing nut on the sensor that is off, gently move it until its light turns steady, then tighten it back down.
- Test the door. If the light still blinks or the door still reverses, call us.
Reconnect the Trolley After Using the Manual Release
After a power outage or a manual lift, the door may not move with the opener. That’s because the trolley is still disconnected. Reconnecting it is simple.
- Close the door first if you can, and keep your hands clear of the tracks and the bottom of the door.
- Find the red release handle hanging from the trolley on the opener rail.
- Pull the handle toward the opener at a slight angle, so the release arm lies flat again.
- Press the wall button or a remote. The trolley reconnects when the opener moves the door.
- If the door feels heavy by hand or won’t reconnect, stop. Don’t touch the springs or cables, and call us.
Garage Door Opener Repair FAQ
Most of the time the gear or drive part inside the opener is stripped, or the door is out of balance because of a worn spring. If the door is very heavy when you lift it by hand, think spring. If it lifts easy by hand, think opener. Don’t keep pushing the button. Call us and we’ll check the opener and the springs.
The most common cause is the safety eye sensors. The lenses get dirty, one gets bumped out of line, or a wire comes loose. Wipe both lenses and check that the light on each sensor stays steady. On many LiftMaster and Chamberlain openers, the opener light flashing 10 times points to the sensors. If it still reverses, the travel limits or the logic board could be the cause, and we’ll check them.
It depends on the age of the opener and what broke. A gear, a belt, or a board is often worth fixing. If the opener is old or keeps breaking, we’ll tell you straight, and if you want a new one we install LiftMaster.
Start with fresh batteries in the remote or keypad. Then try the wall button. If the wall button works and the remote doesn’t, check the Lock button on the wall control. When Lock is on, remotes and keypads are shut off, and the wall button still works. Press and hold the Lock button for about two seconds until the light stops blinking, then try the remote again. If that doesn’t do it, the remote may need to be programmed again. Still no luck? Call us.
Find the Learn button on the motor unit. The color and spot differ by model, so check your manual. Press and release it, then within 30 seconds press and hold the button on the remote until the opener lights flash or you hear two clicks. Keypads work a little differently, so follow your model’s manual. One caution: don’t hold the Learn button down until its light goes out. That erases every remote and keypad. If you’d rather not climb a ladder, we’ll do it for you.
First make sure the opener is plugged in and the outlet has power. Plug in something else to test it, and check the breaker. A storm can trip it, and some outlets are run by a wall switch. If the outlet is good and the opener still has no light or sound, the logic board has likely failed. Call us and we’ll take a look.
We repair all makes and models, including LiftMaster, Chamberlain, Genie and Craftsman, plus brands like Linear, Marantec and Wayne Dalton. We are an authorized LiftMaster dealer, so if you need a new opener, that’s the brand we install.
Close the door first if you can. Then pull the red release cord down. That disconnects the door from the opener so you can lift it by hand. Lift slowly and keep your hands clear of the tracks and the bottom of the door. If the door is heavy or drops, or you think a spring is broken, don’t force it. Leave the springs and cables alone and call us.
