7 Signs Your Garage Door Spring Is Broken

Your garage door’s springs do almost all of the lifting. A typical double door weighs a few hundred pounds, and the springs counterbalance that weight so the opener (or your arms) only has to guide it. When a spring wears out or snaps, the door suddenly feels like dead weight. Here’s how to tell when your springs are failing, why it happens, and what to do about it.

How garage door springs work

Most residential doors in Aurora and York Region use torsion springs: one or two tightly wound coils on a steel bar above the door opening. As the door closes, the springs wind up and store energy. As it opens, they unwind and do the heavy lifting. Some older or lighter doors use extension springs that stretch along the horizontal tracks on each side.

Either way, springs are rated for a set number of open-and-close cycles. A standard torsion spring is commonly rated for around 10,000 cycles. If you use your garage door four times a day, that’s roughly seven years. Busy households that use the garage as the main entrance can wear through springs much faster.

7 signs your garage door spring is broken or wearing out

1. A loud bang from the garage. A torsion spring under tension makes a sharp crack, almost like a gunshot, when it breaks. Many homeowners hear it and only find the problem the next time they try to open the door.
2. A visible gap in the spring. Look at the springs above the door. A broken torsion spring usually shows a two-inch gap where the coil has separated.
3. The door is very heavy to lift by hand. Pull the emergency release and try lifting the door a foot or two. A balanced door should feel fairly light and stay in place partway open. If it’s very heavy or slams down, the springs aren’t doing their job.
4. The opener strains, stops or reverses. Openers are not designed to lift the full weight of the door. When a spring fails, the motor may hum, lift a few inches and stop, or reverse.
5. The door opens crooked. On doors with two springs, one broken spring can cause the door to rise unevenly.
6. The cables look loose or have come off the drums. When spring tension is lost, the lift cables can go slack and jump off the drums at the ends of the spring bar.
7. The door closes too fast. A door that drops quickly in the last few feet is a sign the springs have lost tension.

Why springs break

• Normal wear. Every cycle fatigues the steel a little. Eventually it gives out.
• Rust. Ontario winters, road salt tracked in on vehicles and humid garages all speed up corrosion, which adds friction and weakens the coils.
• Cold snaps. Steel is more brittle in very cold weather, so many springs fail on the first frigid mornings of winter.
• The wrong spring for the door. If a door has been upgraded to a heavier insulated model without changing the springs, they’ll be overworked from day one.

Please don’t try to fix it yourself

Garage door springs store a dangerous amount of energy. Winding or releasing a torsion spring without the proper bars and training is one of the most common causes of serious garage door injuries. Don’t try to adjust, unwind or replace a spring yourself, and don’t keep running the opener with a broken spring, since that can damage the opener, cables and door sections.

If a spring breaks, leave the door closed if you can, keep children and pets away, and call a professional. Read more about garage door safety.

Repair or replace both springs?

On a two-spring door, it usually makes sense to replace both springs at the same time. They have done the same number of cycles, so if one has broken the other is close behind. Replacing them together also keeps the door balanced. A technician will also check the cables, drums, bearings and rollers while the door is apart, since these parts wear alongside the springs.

How to make your new springs last longer

• Lubricate the springs lightly with a garage door lubricant once or twice a year.
• Test the door’s balance every few months using the manual lift test above.
• Keep the garage as dry as possible to slow down rust.
• Ask about higher-cycle springs if your garage door is your main entrance.
• Book a yearly tune-up so small issues are caught early.

Garage door spring repair in Aurora and York Region

Aurora Overhead Doors has been installing and repairing garage doors since 1978. Our technicians replace torsion and extension springs, cables and rollers and rebalance the door so it runs smoothly and safely. See our garage door repair and service page, or call (905) 727-1382 to book a visit. Our office is open Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.