Garage door loud bang, now it won't lift
This is almost always a broken torsion spring. Repair costs $220 to $580 and takes 60 to 90 minutes. Safe to operate: No.
Check this first — it may cost you nothing
Look at the shaft above the door opening. A broken torsion spring shows a visible gap of two to three inches where the coil separated.
Why this happens
A single loud bang followed by a door that will not lift is a snapped torsion spring in almost every case. The spring counterbalances the door's weight — without it the opener is trying to lift 150 to 400 pounds on its own and will strip its gear or burn out the motor.
A broken torsion spring shows a clean two-to-three-inch gap. The winding cone at the end is where the tension is set — and where the danger is.
Less likely, but possible
- A snapped lift cable, which usually also leaves the door crooked
- The opener's drive gear stripping under load, which sounds more like grinding than a single bang
- A broken bottom bracket, rare but dangerous
What happens if I ignore it?
Every attempt to run the opener drives it into a load it was never built for. You will strip the drive gear or burn out the motor within a few tries, turning a $300 spring job into a $700 spring-plus-opener job.
The repair: spring repair
Garage door torsion spring replacement costs $220 to $580 for a pair, including parts and labor, and takes 60 to 90 minutes. A broken spring makes the door unsafe to operate — the opener cannot lift the weight without it.
Read the full spring repair guide →Get a tech dispatched
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