You press the garage door opener and hear the motor running, but the door barely moves. Maybe you heard a loud bang from the garage earlier and couldn’t figure out what caused it. Or perhaps the door suddenly feels much heavier than it did yesterday.
Your garage door may not be the problem.
It could be a broken garage door spring.
Garage door springs do much of the heavy lifting every time your door opens and closes. When a spring breaks, what normally feels like a simple push of a button can suddenly become a door that won’t open, moves unevenly, or feels far heavier than expected.
At Accurate Door, we’ve been working on garage doors throughout Aurora and Chicagoland since 1972. Broken springs are a common repair, but the symptoms aren’t always obvious to homeowners.
Here are seven signs that can help you recognize what’s happening—and what you should do next.
How Do You Know if a Garage Door Spring Is Broken?
1. You Heard a Loud Bang From the Garage
A broken spring can announce itself before you ever try to use the door.
When a torsion spring snaps, the stored tension is released very quickly. That can create a surprisingly loud sound. Homeowners sometimes describe hearing a bang from the garage even though nothing appeared to have fallen.
If you heard something unusual and your garage door isn’t operating normally afterward, take a look above the door rather than repeatedly trying the opener.
The spring may have snapped.
2. Your Garage Door Won’t Open
This is usually when homeowners realize something is wrong.
You press the button. The opener activates. Maybe the door moves an inch or two—and then stops.
The opener isn’t necessarily the problem.
The springs are designed to counterbalance much of the door’s weight. Without that assistance, your opener may suddenly be trying to lift far more weight than the system was designed to handle.
If your garage door won’t open, don’t keep pressing the button hoping it will eventually make it.
That’s a good time to have the system inspected.
3. The Garage Door Suddenly Feels Very Heavy
A properly balanced garage door shouldn’t feel like you’re lifting the full weight of the door yourself.
A broken spring changes that quickly.
If you disconnect the opener and the door feels unusually heavy, that can be an indication that the spring system is no longer properly supporting it.
This is also why a broken spring is more than an inconvenience. A heavy garage door can be difficult to control and shouldn’t be treated like a normal functioning door.
4. You Can See a Gap in the Spring
Sometimes the problem is visible.
If your garage door uses a torsion spring system, look above the door. The spring normally appears as a tightly wound metal coil running along a shaft.
When a torsion spring breaks, you may see a noticeable separation or gap in that coil.
That gap is one of the clearest signs of a broken garage door spring.
You can visually inspect the spring from a safe distance, but don’t touch it or attempt to adjust any part of the spring system yourself.
5. The Garage Door Opens Crooked
Does one side of the door seem to be moving while the other struggles to keep up?
An uneven or crooked garage door can indicate a problem with the spring or another part of the counterbalance system.
This is one of those situations where continuing to operate the door can turn one problem into several. Uneven movement puts additional stress on the tracks, rollers, cables, and other components.
The goal isn’t just to get the door closed one more time.
It’s to figure out why it isn’t moving correctly in the first place.
6. The Door Drops Faster Than It Should
A garage door should move in a controlled manner.
If yours suddenly drops, closes much faster than normal, or doesn’t seem capable of holding its position, stop using it.
The spring system helps control the weight of the garage door throughout its movement. When that balance is lost, the door may behave very differently than you’re used to.
That’s a safety issue—not something we’d recommend putting off until the door completely stops working.
7. The Opener Runs, but the Door Struggles
You can hear the opener.
The lights come on.
The motor sounds like it’s doing its job.
But the garage door doesn’t want to move.
It’s easy to assume you need a new opener, but sometimes the opener is simply reacting to another problem.
A broken spring can leave the opener trying to lift a door without the counterbalance assistance it normally receives. Continuing to operate it that way can put unnecessary strain on the opener as well.
Before replacing anything, find out what’s actually causing the problem.
That’s a big part of how Accurate Door approaches garage door service. We don’t want to replace a component simply because it’s the first thing that looks suspicious. We look at how the entire door is operating, identify the actual problem, and explain your options.
What Should You Do if Your Garage Door Spring Breaks?
First: stop repeatedly operating the garage door.
If the door is already closed, leaving it closed until it can be inspected is generally the safest approach.
Don’t attempt to adjust, unwind, remove, or replace the spring yourself. Garage door springs operate under significant tension, and spring replacement requires the proper parts, tools, and procedures.
Instead, have the complete door system evaluated.
A technician can determine whether you’re dealing with a broken spring or another issue and inspect the surrounding components for wear or damage.
If you suspect a spring problem, Accurate Door offers professional garage door spring repair throughout Aurora and the surrounding Chicagoland area.
Can You Open a Garage Door With a Broken Spring?
Sometimes physically moving the door may be possible.
That doesn’t mean you should.
Without a functioning spring system, the door can be extremely heavy and difficult to control. Attempting to lift it can create a safety risk, and repeatedly running the automatic opener may place additional strain on the opener and other components.
If your vehicle is trapped inside and you need immediate assistance, it’s better to contact a garage door professional rather than trying to force the door open.
Accurate Door also provides emergency garage door repair when a garage door problem can’t wait.
Should Both Garage Door Springs Be Replaced?
If your garage door has two springs and one breaks, there’s a good reason to replace both at the same time.
Think of your garage door springs like the tires on your car. Both springs work together every time your garage door opens and closes. They’re typically rated for the same number of cycles and have experienced the same amount of wear.
When one spring breaks, it’s often a sign that the other is approaching the end of its useful life, too.
Replacing only one spring might save you money today, but it could cost you more in the long run.
If the second spring breaks a few weeks or months later, you’re looking at another service appointment, additional labor, and another repair—not to mention the inconvenience of another unexpected breakdown.
That’s why replacing both springs together makes sense. It helps reduce the likelihood of another breakdown and avoids paying for two separate service visits.
Because the cheapest repair today isn’t always the least expensive repair over time.
The goal isn’t just to get your garage door working again. It’s to help keep it working safely and reliably.
A Broken Spring May Be the Obvious Problem. It Isn’t Always the Only One.
When a spring snaps, it’s easy to focus entirely on that one component.
But a garage door works as a system.
Springs, cables, rollers, tracks, hinges, the opener, and the door itself all work together. If something has been operating incorrectly for a while, there may be additional wear that isn’t immediately obvious.
That’s why a professional spring repair shouldn’t simply be “take the broken one off and put a new one on.”
It’s an opportunity to make sure the door is balanced properly, moving correctly, and ready to safely return to normal operation.
Accurate Door provides complete garage door services for homeowners throughout the area, so if the spring isn’t the only issue, we can help identify what else needs attention.
Think Your Garage Door Spring Is Broken?
Your garage door spring isn’t something you should have to think about every day.
When it’s working correctly, you probably don’t.
But when you hear a loud bang, the door suddenly becomes heavy, or your opener is running without getting the door off the ground, don’t ignore what the door is telling you.
Accurate Door has been helping homeowners throughout Aurora and Chicagoland since 1972. We’ll inspect the problem, explain what we find, and give you clear options for getting your garage door operating safely again.
Think your spring is broken? Schedule professional garage door spring repair with Accurate Door.
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