Garage Door Spring Repair in San Diego

• A loud bang from the garage while nobody was using the door. A torsion spring that snaps releases its energy all at once.
• A visible gap in the coils of the spring on the shaft above the door.
• The opener hums or strains, lifts the door a few inches, then stops or reverses.
• The door feels far heavier than usual when you lift it by hand with the opener released.
• The door rises crooked, or the lift cables hang slack on one side.
• On older doors with extension springs: a spring along the side track is stretched out, hanging loose, or missing.

Every spring is built for a set number of cycles, one cycle being one opening and one closing. A family that uses the garage as its front door runs through cycles quickly, and the spring eventually fatigues and cracks. Rust shortens that life: salt air near the coast and moisture in a closed garage roughen the coils, and the added friction concentrates stress at weak spots. Springs installed at the wrong size for the door, or a door made heavier by added insulation or a new panel, also wear out early because the spring works harder on every cycle.

When a door has two torsion springs and one breaks, the other is the same age and has made the same number of cycles. That is why replacing the pair at once is the usual advice.

1. Secure the door so it cannot move while the spring system is open.
2. Measure the old spring: wire size, inside diameter, length and wind direction, and check the door's weight and height so the new springs match the door rather than the broken part.
3. Unwind any remaining tension with proper winding bars and remove the old springs.
4. Fit the new springs, wind them to the number of turns the door needs and set the cables evenly on both drums.
5. Test the balance: with the opener released, the door should stay put when lifted halfway.
6. Check the parts a spring failure tends to strain, such as the cables, drums, bearings and rollers, then reconnect the opener and test its force setting and auto-reverse.

Most attached garages in San Diego County use torsion springs: one or two springs on a steel shaft above the door, held by a center bearing plate and winding cones. Some older doors use extension springs that stretch along each horizontal track. Extension springs need a safety cable running through the center so a broken spring cannot whip across the garage. High-cycle torsion springs, made for doors that open many times a day, are an option when a standard spring has failed early. Converting an extension spring door to torsion springs is also possible on most residential doors.

The price of a spring job depends on how many springs the door uses, torsion or extension, standard or high-cycle springs, and whether worn cables or bearings should be replaced on the same visit. A conversion from extension to torsion springs costs more than a like-for-like swap.

A broken spring alone is almost never a reason to replace a door. New springs restore the door to full working order as long as the sections, tracks and hinges are sound. Replacement makes sense when the spring failure exposed other damage, such as cracked sections, a bent track or a door that was already near the end of its life, or when you were planning a new door anyway. If that is the case, the new garage door installation page explains the options.

• Do not loosen, adjust or remove a torsion spring or its winding cones. The stored energy can break a wrist or worse in an instant.
• Do not keep running the opener with a broken spring. It was built to guide a balanced door, not to lift the full weight, and the gear or the door can fail.
• Do not pull the red emergency release while the door is open and a spring is broken. Without the spring the door can drop straight down.
• Keep children, pets and cars clear of the opening until the door is repaired.
• Do not use a screwdriver or any tool other than solid winding bars of the right size on a torsion spring.

Call as soon as you hear the bang or see the gap, and before anyone tries to force the door. Doorup is open 24 hours, 7 days a week, so a door stuck open at night does not have to wait for morning: call (619) 666-6054. A spring failure often loosens a cable too, which is covered on the cable repair page.