Seven signs of a broken garage door spring
Updated 2026-02-11 SpringsDiagnosisSafety
A broken torsion spring is the single most common garage door failure there is, and it is also the one people most often misdiagnose as a dead opener. Here is how to tell the difference before you call anyone.
1. You heard a bang
Torsion springs store an enormous amount of energy. When one fails it releases that energy instantly, and the noise is loud enough that most people describe it as a gunshot or something heavy falling over in the garage. It very often happens overnight or in extreme cold, when the steel is at its most brittle, so the first you know about it is the following morning.
2. There is a visible gap in the spring
Look at the bar running horizontally above the door opening. The spring or springs wound around it should be a continuous tight coil. A broken one has an obvious two to three inch gap where it separated. This is the definitive test and it takes five seconds.
3. The door is suddenly far too heavy to lift
Pull the red emergency release cord to disconnect the opener and try lifting the door by hand. A correctly balanced door weighs almost nothing to lift because the springs counterbalance it. With a broken spring you are lifting the raw weight of the door, which on a double door is commonly 150 to 250 pounds. If it will not budge, stop.
If the door lifts easily by hand but the opener will not move it, your springs are fine and the fault is inside the opener. That is a completely different and much cheaper repair.
4. The opener strains, lifts a few inches, then stops
Modern openers have force sensing. When the spring breaks, the motor suddenly encounters the full weight of the door, exceeds its force limit and shuts down as a safety measure. People read this as "the opener died." It did not; it protected itself. Repeatedly hammering the button afterward is how a spring job turns into a spring job plus a stripped drive gear.
5. The door slams shut instead of lowering
If the door comes down fast and lands hard, the spring tension is no longer supporting the weight. This is genuinely dangerous with children or pets around, and it is a reason to stop using the door entirely until it is repaired.
6. The door is crooked or jammed at an angle
On a door with two extension springs, one failing leaves the other pulling unevenly, which drags one side up faster than the other and can pull rollers out of the track. See our cable and off-track repair page for what happens next if it is left.
7. Cables are loose or hanging
The lift cables are kept taut by spring tension. When a spring goes, the cables slacken and often unwind from the drums, leaving loops of steel cable hanging beside the door. That slack cable is also why forcing the door usually makes everything worse.
Why you should not replace it yourself
This is not gatekeeping. Torsion springs are wound to several hundred pounds of torque and are released using two correctly sized steel winding bars. Substituting a screwdriver or a piece of rebar is how people lose fingers and break arms, and it is the most common cause of serious garage door injuries in the US. The cost of professional replacement is modest precisely because it is a routine job for someone with the right bars and the right spring chart.
What replacement actually involves
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| Measure | Wire gauge, inside diameter, length and wind direction are measured so the new spring matches the door's actual weight |
| Release | Remaining tension is safely unwound from the surviving spring |
| Replace | Both springs are swapped as a matched pair, cables reseated on the drums |
| Balance | New springs are wound to the correct turn count and the door is tested to hold at waist height |
| Test | Opener force limits reset and safety reversal checked |
Should you upgrade to high-cycle springs?
A standard spring is rated for around 10,000 cycles, roughly seven years at four openings a day. High-cycle springs rated at 20,000 or more cost modestly more fitted and can double that. If the garage is how your household actually enters the house, the upgrade usually pays for itself by skipping one future callout.
If any of the seven signs above match what your door is doing, our spring repair and replacement service covers every city in Michigan, usually the same day.
Need a hand with this? We cover every city in Michigan, seven days a week. Call (888) 904-6236 or request a callback.