Ask the Experts

Why is my garage door remote not working?

Posted 2026-06-14 · by David Yifrach, DPOR #2705188091

If your garage door remote stopped working, start with two things that fix most cases: the battery and the opener's lock button. Swap in a fresh battery, then press and hold the lock or vacation button on your wall console for a few seconds to make sure the opener is not locked out. If the remote still does nothing, the fix is almost always a quick reprogram, a dirty photo eye, or radio interference, and the full order our Hampton Roads techs work through is below.

Step 1: Replace the battery

A dead or weak coin battery is the single most common reason a remote quits, and most remote batteries last about two years. Pop the remote open, note the battery number printed on it (commonly a CR2032 or CR2016), and drop in a fresh one with the correct side facing up. Test the door. If the remote's LED was dim or not lighting at all and now glows brightly when you press the button, you have likely solved it. Keep a spare battery in a drawer, because they tend to fade in cold weather first.

Step 2: Make sure the opener is not locked

Most wall consoles have a lock button, sometimes labeled vacation or lockout. When it is engaged, the opener ignores every handheld remote on purpose, a feature meant to stop someone from opening the door while you are away. If you see a button or light flashing on the wall console, press and hold it for a few seconds until the light goes solid or off, then try the remote again. This one toggles on by accident all the time, often when someone leans against the console or a child presses it.

Step 3: Reprogram the remote to the opener

If the battery is good and the opener is unlocked, the remote may have simply lost its pairing, which can happen after a power surge or a dead battery sitting too long. Find the Learn button on the motor unit, usually near the antenna wire under a light cover. Press it once and you have about 30 seconds, then press the button on your remote you want to use. The opener light should flash or you will hear a click, which confirms the pairing. If you are not sure which button is the Learn button, the steps differ slightly by brand, and our team can walk you through it during an opener repair visit.

Step 4: Check the photo eyes and antenna

A remote that clicks but will not close the door is often a safety-sensor problem, not a remote problem. The two photo eyes near the bottom of the tracks must be clean and aligned, with both LEDs glowing steady. Wipe the lenses with a soft cloth and nudge the brackets until both lights are solid. While you are there, look at the thin antenna wire hanging from the motor head, it should hang down freely and not be cut or curled up, because a damaged antenna shrinks your remote's range. Our guide on a garage door that will not close because of the photo eyes covers this in detail.

Step 5: Rule out radio interference

Here in Hampton Roads, radio interference is a real and often overlooked cause. Homes near NAS Oceana in Virginia Beach (23460), Naval Station Norfolk, and Langley in Hampton can pick up RF traffic that drowns out an older opener's signal, and LED shop lights or a new smart bulb in the opener can do the same thing at close range. If your remote only works within a few feet of the door, try removing any LED bulb in the opener, and if the problem followed a new device in the garage, that device is the likely culprit. A newer opener with rolling-code 315 or 390 MHz reception shrugs off most of this.

When to call a pro

If you have replaced the battery, unlocked the opener, reprogrammed the remote, cleaned the photo eyes, and ruled out interference and the remote still does nothing, the opener's circuit board is the likely failure, especially after a Hampton Roads thunderstorm or power surge. A replacement remote runs about 30 to 70 dollars, while a logic board repair or opener replacement is a larger job, roughly 400 to 700 dollars installed in 2026 depending on the unit. We have served Hampton Roads since 2013 with 74 five-star Google reviews and a 5-year workmanship warranty. Call (757) 777-3330 for a free on-site estimate, or see our full garage door repair services.

How do I disconnect my garage door from the opener?

Posted 2026-06-13 · by David Yifrach, DPOR #2705188091

To disconnect your garage door from the opener, first close the door fully, then pull the red emergency release cord that hangs from the opener rail straight down. This unhooks the door from the motor and puts it into manual mode so you can lift it by hand. Always disconnect with the door closed, because releasing it while the door is open can let it drop fast and cause injury or damage.

Step 1: Close the door first

Lower the door all the way before you touch the release cord. A closed door is resting on the floor, so there is no spring-loaded weight waiting to slam down when you disconnect it. If the door is stuck open and you cannot close it, do not pull the cord. Support the door or call a professional, since a door released while open can fall under its own weight.

Step 2: Find the red release cord

Look for a red rope with a plastic handle hanging from the trolley, the moving piece on the rail that runs between the motor and the door. It looks a bit like a lawn mower pull cord. Almost every brand, LiftMaster, Chamberlain, Genie, and Wayne Dalton, uses a red cord so it is easy to spot in a power outage.

Step 3: Pull the cord down to release

Pull the red handle straight down firmly. You will feel and hear the trolley unlatch from the carriage. The door is now disconnected and in manual mode. You can lift it by hand, and it should glide up and stay put if the springs are properly balanced. If the door is heavy to lift or crashes back down, the springs or cables may be worn, which is a separate repair you should not ignore.

Step 4: Keep it in manual mode if needed

On most LiftMaster and Chamberlain units, after pulling the cord down you can pull the handle back toward the door, away from the motor, to lock the trolley in the disconnected position. That keeps the door in manual mode so it will not try to re-latch. This is handy during a long power outage or while you are working on the door.

How to reconnect the opener

To reconnect, pull the red cord straight down and back toward the opener motor until the trolley clicks into a re-latch position, then run the opener once. The trolley will re-engage the carriage on the next full up or down cycle. You do not need to climb a ladder or touch the motor. If it does not catch, make sure the door is closed and try one more cycle.

When disconnecting points to a bigger problem

If you had to disconnect because the door reverses, sticks, or the opener grinds, the release cord is a workaround, not a fix. A door that is hard to lift by hand once disconnected almost always has a spring or cable problem, and forcing the opener to keep working a heavy door is how gears strip. Our opener repair service covers grinding motors, stripped gears, and dead boards, and if a car is trapped behind a stuck door our emergency garage door service offers same-day response across Hampton Roads.

Hampton Roads note: power outages and storms

Knowing the release cord matters here because summer storms and hurricane-season outages are routine across Virginia Beach, Norfolk, and the Peninsula. Practice disconnecting and reconnecting once on a calm day so you are not learning it by flashlight during a storm. For a full plan on what to do when the door will not work during an emergency, see our garage door emergency decision guide. For hands-on help, call (757) 777-3330 for same-day response.

How do I test my garage door's balance?

Posted 2026-06-12 · by David Yifrach, DPOR #2705188091

Close the door, pull the red emergency release cord to disconnect the opener, then lift the door by hand to about waist height and let go. A balanced door stays put or drifts only a few inches. If it slams down or shoots up, the springs are out of adjustment and the door needs professional rebalancing, which runs $95 to $160 in Hampton Roads in 2026.

Step by step, the safe way

Start with the door fully closed. Pull the red release cord down and slightly back toward the opener to disengage the trolley. Lift the door by the handle or the bottom edge, never by reaching into the section joints, and raise it about three feet. It should lift smoothly with one hand. Pause there and let go gently. Then raise it to fully open and bring it back to waist height and release again. At each position a healthy door holds roughly where you leave it. Re-engage the opener when you are done by running it once; the trolley clicks back in on its own.

What the results mean

A door that sinks slowly is slightly under-sprung and is a maintenance item, not an emergency. A door that falls fast or slams shut has springs well below proper tension, and every cycle is now grinding your opener. A door that rises on its own is over-sprung, which strains the opener in the opposite direction and can slam the door open. A door that is heavy on one side, or sits crooked at the floor, often has a cable or drum problem rather than a spring problem, and that needs a cable repair visit before something lets go. Never test balance with the door open, and never touch the springs, drums, or cables yourself; a wound torsion spring stores enough energy to cause serious injury.

Why this one-minute test saves your opener

The springs are supposed to carry the door's weight; the opener only guides it. When balance drifts, the opener motor hauls dead weight every cycle, and that is how gears strip and capacitors fail years early. Most of the dead openers we replace in Norfolk and Virginia Beach sat on out-of-balance doors for years first. We walked a homeowner near Colley Avenue in Ghent, Norfolk 23517 through this test by phone last month; her door dropped like a stone from waist height, and the spring adjustment that followed likely saved a 6-year-old opener from an early grave.

The Hampton Roads wrinkle: humidity and salt

Coastal humidity makes wood and wood-composite doors measurably heavier in summer, so a door balanced in January can fail this test in July. Salt air also corrodes spring steel, which weakens tension over time. If you are near the water, run this test twice a year, ideally as part of a spring and fall routine alongside our broken-spring checklist.

How often should you run this test?

Twice a year is the right cadence for most Hampton Roads homes, and quarterly if you are within a mile of the water. The test takes about one minute once you have done it twice. A good habit is pairing it with the photo-eye check and a quick listen for new grinding or scraping sounds, since those three together catch the majority of failures before they strand a car in the garage. Mark it on the same calendar reminder you use for smoke detector batteries and it actually gets done.

When to call a pro

If the door fails the hold test at any position, call for a rebalance. In 2026, a professional spring adjustment runs $95 to $160 across Hampton Roads, and full spring replacement runs $220 to $520 depending on door size and spring count. Balance checks are also included in every maintenance tune-up. Seaside Garage Door Experts, Virginia DPOR Class A Contractor #2705188091, serves all of Hampton Roads. Call (757) 777-3330 for a free on-site estimate.

How do I connect my garage door opener to Wi-Fi?

Posted 2026-06-11 · by David Yifrach, DPOR #2705188091

To connect a myQ-equipped LiftMaster or Chamberlain opener to Wi-Fi, press and release the yellow Learn button two or three times until the opener beeps and a blue light flashes, then open the myQ app and follow the prompts to join the opener to your home network. The opener only works on 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi, not 5 GHz, and that one detail causes most failed setups. The whole process takes about ten minutes when the signal in the garage is strong.

Before you start: the three things that make setup work

First, confirm your phone is on the 2.4 GHz band of your router. Many Hampton Roads homes have mesh routers that broadcast one network name for both bands, and the opener cannot join through the 5 GHz side. If setup keeps failing, temporarily split the bands in your router settings or stand farther from the router so your phone drops to 2.4 GHz. Second, check signal strength in the garage itself: stand under the opener and run a speed test. Garages sit behind insulated walls and metal doors, and a weak signal here is the single most common reason the opener connects today and drops offline next week. Third, have your exact network name and password ready, including capitalization.

Step-by-step for openers with built-in myQ (2014 and newer)

Download the myQ app and create an account. Press and release the yellow Learn button on the opener power head two or three times until you hear a beep and see a flashing blue LED, which puts the opener in Wi-Fi setup mode. In the app, choose Add Device and select garage door opener, then follow the prompts: the app connects your phone briefly to a temporary network the opener broadcasts (it starts with MyQ), passes your home network credentials to the opener, and joins it to your router. When the opener LED goes solid, open and close the door once from the app to confirm. If your opener predates built-in Wi-Fi, the add-on myQ Smart Garage Hub does the same job for around $30 and pairs to the opener through the same Learn-button procedure. Genie owners use the Aladdin Connect app, and the flow is nearly identical.

Why connections drop in Hampton Roads specifically

We field this question constantly from homeowners near the bases. Around NAS Oceana in the 23454 zip, Norfolk Naval Station, and Langley, the 2.4 GHz band is crowded, and radar and flight-line activity coincide with interference complaints often enough that we no longer consider it coincidence. The practical fixes are unglamorous but effective: move the router closer to the garage side of the house, add a plug-in Wi-Fi extender near the garage door, or set the connection to a fixed 2.4 GHz channel (1, 6, or 11) in your router settings instead of auto. An insulated steel door between the opener and the router can also attenuate signal, so an extender inside the garage beats one outside it.

When the problem is not the Wi-Fi

If the opener will not enter setup mode at all, the logic board may be failing, and after the thunderstorms we get every June, surge-damaged boards are a weekly repair for us. A board that drops Wi-Fi, forgets remotes, or randomly reverses the door is telling you something. Our opener repair page covers the diagnosis, and our summer opener failure guide explains why heat and surges hit openers so hard here. If you are replacing an older unit anyway, every opener we install now ships with built-in Wi-Fi and battery backup, and our 2026 opener buying guide compares the options. We program the app connection before we leave on every install. Questions, or an opener that refuses to cooperate? Call (757) 777-3330 and we will sort it out, starting with a free on-site estimate if hardware needs replacing.

Why is my garage door opener beeping?

Posted 2026-06-10 · by David Yifrach, DPOR #2705188091

If your garage door opener beeps every 30 seconds and the small LED on the motor head flashes orange, the backup battery is low or dead and needs replacement. A beep every 2 seconds while the door is moving means the opener is running on battery power because its outlet lost electricity, and one long beep followed by three short beeps means a LiftMaster or Chamberlain unit lost its Wi-Fi connection. Below is how to decode every beep pattern, what a replacement battery costs in Hampton Roads in 2026, and the one beep pattern that means you should stop pressing the button and call a technician.

Step 1: Match the beep to the LED on the motor head

LiftMaster and Chamberlain battery-backup openers use the same signal language. Look at the small battery LED on the motor unit, not the learn button. A solid orange LED with a beep every 2 seconds means the opener is operating on battery power right now. A flashing orange LED with a beep every 30 seconds means the battery is low. A flashing red LED with the same 30-second beep means the battery is dead and will no longer hold a charge. One long beep followed by three short beeps is a Wi-Fi error, usually a changed router password, and has nothing to do with the battery.

Step 2: Check the outlet before you blame the battery

Plug a phone charger or a lamp into the ceiling outlet the opener uses. If the outlet is dead, the opener has been quietly draining its backup battery, sometimes for days, and the beeping is the battery crying for help. Check your breaker panel for a tripped GFCI. We see this constantly in garages in Great Bridge and the rest of the 23322 zip code after summer thunderstorms, where a nearby strike trips the GFCI circuit and the homeowner does not notice until the beeping starts at 2 AM. If you just had an outage, our guide on resetting a LiftMaster opener after a power outage walks through the full restart sequence.

Step 3: Replace the battery if the LED is orange or red

Backup batteries in these openers are sealed lead-acid units that last 1 to 3 years, and a deep drain during a power outage often finishes off an older one. In Hampton Roads in 2026, the battery itself runs $45 to $85 at hardware stores, and we install one for $160 to $220 as part of a service call that includes a full opener checkup. Unplug the opener, remove the battery compartment cover, swap the battery, plug back in, and the beeping stops once the unit confirms a healthy charge. If you want the beeping silenced tonight while you wait for a new battery, unplug the opener, disconnect the battery leads, then plug the opener back in. The door still works on house power, you just have no backup until the new battery goes in.

The beeps that are normal and cannot be turned off

If your opener has myQ and someone closes the door from the phone app, the unit beeps and flashes for several seconds before the door moves. That is a federally required safety alert for unattended operation and it cannot be disabled. Genie openers with Aladdin Connect do the same thing. If the beeping only happens during app-triggered closings, nothing is wrong with your opener.

When beeping means call a pro

Two situations call for a technician rather than a new battery. First, if you replaced the battery and the LED never turns green, the charging circuit on the logic board has likely failed, which is a board-level repair. Second, if the beeping comes with clicking or humming while the door refuses to move, you may be looking at a failed capacitor or a stripped drive gear, both covered in our opener repair service. Heat accelerates both failures, and our June post on summer heat killing garage door openers explains why attic-temperature garages in coastal Virginia are hard on opener electronics. If your opener is 12 years or older and needs a board, replacement usually beats repair: a new LiftMaster battery-backup unit installed runs $650 to $1,100 in Hampton Roads in 2026, and our 2026 opener buying guide compares the brands we install.

Hurricane season makes the backup battery worth fixing now

From June through November, an outage here is a matter of when, not if. A working backup battery gives you roughly 20 full open-close cycles with no grid power, which means you can still get the car out when a storm knocks the lights out. Ignoring the low-battery beep all summer means the one time you need the backup, it is dead. We test backup batteries on every maintenance tune-up, and we are happy to check yours during a free on-site estimate for any other door work. Call (757) 777-3330 and we can usually have a battery in the same day.

Why does my garage door open by itself?

Posted 2026-06-10 · by David Yifrach, DPOR #2705188091

A garage door that opens by itself almost always has one of four causes: a stuck button on a remote or wall console, a shorted keypad or button wire, radio interference triggering the receiver, or a failing opener logic board. Start by pulling the batteries from every remote and clearing the keypad, since a stuck or shorted transmitter is the cause in roughly half of these calls. If the door still opens on its own with every remote dead, the problem is in the wiring, the receiver, or the board, and the steps below will isolate it.

Step 1: rule out your own transmitters

Remove the batteries from every remote, including the spare in the kitchen drawer and the one in the second car. Salt air and summer humidity in Hampton Roads corrode remote contacts and keypads, and a corroded keypad can fire intermittently for weeks before it fails outright. If the phantom opening stops, replace the offending remote or keypad rather than just the battery. If you use HomeLink in a vehicle, clear and re-teach it too.

Step 2: check the wall button wiring

The thin two-strand wire from the opener head to the wall console is low voltage, and a single staple pinched through the insulation, a water-wicked splice, or insulation chewed in the attic can short the circuit and command the door. Disconnect the two button wires at the opener head overnight. If the door stays put with the wires off, the fault is in that run or the console, and the fix is replacement wire, about a 30-minute job.

Step 3: consider radio interference, a real factor in Hampton Roads

Garage door openers receive on shared frequencies around 300 to 390 MHz. Living between Naval Air Station Oceana, Norfolk Naval Station, and Langley Air Force Base means more high-power radio traffic in those bands than almost anywhere in the country, and openers built before rolling-code security, roughly pre-1996, can be triggered by a strong stray signal or a neighbor's transmitter on an overlapping code. Newer LED bulbs installed in or near the opener can also blind or jam receivers. If your opener is from the fixed-code era, the durable fix is upgrading to a rolling-code opener, which changes its code on every press. If the opener is newer, try erasing all stored remotes from the receiver and re-teaching only the ones you own, and swap any non-rated LED bulb in the opener for one listed as garage door opener compatible.

Step 4: suspect the logic board

If the door still opens with remotes dead and button wires disconnected, the receiver or logic board is firing on its own. Boards fail erratically with age, heat, humidity, and power surges, and phantom operation is a classic symptom. In 2026 a logic board replacement runs $240 to $380 in our area, while a new chain-drive opener installed runs $520 to $680 and a belt-drive Wi-Fi unit $640 to $860, so on openers more than 12 to 15 years old the math usually favors repairing or replacing the opener outright. Our 2026 opener buying guide compares the current LiftMaster, Chamberlain, and Genie lines.

A note on safety

A door that opens by itself is a security problem, not just an annoyance. Until it is fixed, use the opener's lock or vacation mode if it has one, or slide the manual lock bar at night. If you want it diagnosed properly, we run this exact isolation sequence on a free on-site estimate anywhere in our Hampton Roads service area, from Oceana-adjacent Virginia Beach zip codes like 23454 to Langley-side Hampton. Call (757) 777-3330 and the techs who handle opener repair daily will pin it down in one visit.

How do I unlock my garage door from outside when the power is out?

Posted 2026-06-09 · by David Yifrach, DPOR #2705188091

This is a real Hampton Roads question that picks up traffic in storm season. The short answer: if your garage door has an emergency release lock on the outside, you can unlock the door manually from outside even with no power. If it does not have that lock, you cannot, and you should install one before the next hurricane.

If you have an outside emergency release lock

The release lock is a small metal cylinder typically mounted on the outside of the garage door, above the top section, with a key. Steps:

1. Insert the key, turn it about a quarter turn.
2. Pull the small metal handle straight out. This is connected by a thin cable to the emergency release cord inside, on the trolley of your opener.
3. The trolley disengages from the chain or belt. The opener is now disconnected from the door.
4. Lift the door manually by hand. If the spring is intact, the door should be easy to lift to head height. If it feels like it weighs more than 40 pounds, do not force it, the spring may be broken.

The installed cost of an exterior emergency release lock for a Hampton Roads home is about $90 to $140 including labor. If your home is in Sandbridge, Oceanfront Virginia Beach, Buckroe Beach, or anywhere that loses power during named storms, this is the single most useful $100 you can spend on your garage.

If you do not have an outside emergency release lock

You have three options, ranked by how good they are.

Best: Have one installed. We do these as a standalone service for $90 to $140, or for free during any other repair or tune-up. The hardware is small (a 2-inch metal cylinder) and the install takes about 30 minutes. We carry the kits on the truck.

Workable in a pinch: If your home has a side door into the garage and you can access it from outside, enter through the side door and pull the emergency release cord on the opener (the red cord with the plastic handle that hangs from the trolley). The door can then be lifted manually.

Last resort: Some homes have a window in the garage door, and a homeowner with patience and a long stick can reach the red emergency cord through the window. We do not recommend this. It usually breaks the window glass, the trolley does not always release cleanly, and you risk dropping the door on yourself.

Specific advice for hurricane preparation in Hampton Roads

If a named storm is forecast to make landfall in Hampton Roads within 72 hours, do the following with your garage door regardless of whether you have an outside emergency release lock:

• Park both cars outside the garage if you can. A garage door is the largest opening in your envelope. If it fails during the storm, internal pressure spikes and the roof can lift.
• If you cannot park outside, make sure both spring tension and cable condition are good. We do a free hurricane-prep inspection for any home in our service area during the 72 hours before a named-storm landfall.
• Test your manual lift now, before the power goes out. Knowing whether you can actually lift the door is something you want to find out on a sunny Tuesday, not at midnight during the storm.

The cost transparency on this in Hampton Roads in 2026

• Exterior emergency release lock installation: $90 to $140 standalone, or free during any other service
• Hurricane-prep door inspection: free during named-storm watches
• Replacement of the entire trolley-side emergency cord assembly if yours is broken: $40 to $80

For more help see our guide What Counts as a Garage Door Emergency in Virginia Beach or call (757) 777-3330 for same-day service.

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How do I know if my garage door spring is broken?

Stand inside the garage and look at the spring (or springs) mounted on the shaft above the door. A healthy spring is a single continuous coil. A broken spring has a visible 1–2 inch gap where it snapped.

Other confirming signs: the door feels extremely heavy if you disconnect the opener and try to lift it; the opener hums but can't raise the door; you heard a loud "bang" from the garage recently. Full guide with photos →

Don't operate the door until it's repaired, the opener can be damaged and the door can drop suddenly.

Why does my garage door open halfway and stop?

Usually one of three things: (1) a broken spring making the door too heavy for the opener to keep lifting, the opener hits its force limit and gives up; (2) a worn roller or bent track creating resistance; or (3) the up-limit switch is set to stop the door halfway. Open the garage, look for a gap in the spring first (that's the 80% case). If the spring is intact, try the up-limit adjustment on the opener.

How do I reset my LiftMaster garage door opener after a power outage?

For most LiftMaster openers post-2010, there's nothing to do, they retain their settings automatically. Just press the wall button and the door should operate normally. If it doesn't:

1. Unplug the opener from the ceiling outlet.
2. Wait 30 seconds.
3. Plug it back in. You should hear a short beep and see the LED come on.
4. Press the wall button. Door should work.

If you have battery backup and the backup is depleted, the opener may refuse to operate until the battery recharges (~24 hours on grid power) or you replace the battery. The battery has a lifespan of about 3 years.

How do I program a garage door keypad?

Most residential keypads follow the same general process:

1. On the opener head, press and hold the "learn" button (usually a small colored button under the opener light cover) for about 6 seconds until the learn LED lights up.
2. Within 30 seconds, enter your desired PIN on the keypad and press ENTER.
3. The opener will click or the LED will blink, confirming the programming.
4. Test: enter the PIN, press ENTER. Door should operate.

Exact button locations vary by brand. For LiftMaster/Chamberlain the learn button is yellow, orange, red, or purple depending on model year. For Genie it's labeled with three horizontal lines. If yours is different, check the sticker on the opener's back panel.

How do I manually open a garage door when the power is out?

Every residential garage door opener has an emergency release cord, a red handle hanging from the opener rail, usually about 6 feet in the air.

1. Make sure the door is fully closed (safer to release from closed position).
2. Pull the red cord straight down until you hear a click. This disengages the trolley from the rail.
3. Lift the door manually. It should lift easily if the springs are in good shape.
4. To re-engage: lift the door to the fully-closed position, pull the red cord toward the door (if it has a hinged release), or press the wall button until the trolley re-attaches (newer models).

Important: if the door feels extremely heavy when you try to lift it manually, you have a broken spring. Do not try to force it. Close it, leave it, and call for emergency service.

Why does my garage door reverse when it hits the floor?

Two most likely causes: (1) the down-limit switch is set too low, so the opener thinks the door hit an obstruction; (2) the close-force setting is too sensitive. Both adjustments are typically on the opener head, look for small labeled screws or a digital programming menu. Back off the down-limit until the door stops just as it touches the floor, and bump the close force up a quarter turn at a time until it closes consistently. See our full reversal diagnostic.

How do I align my garage door photo eyes?

The two photo-eye sensors mounted about 6" above the floor on either side of your door must face each other exactly. Each has a small LED, one will flash (or be off) if they're misaligned.

1. Wipe both lenses with a dry cloth.
2. Find the one with the flashing or dim LED.
3. Loosen its wing nut mount with your fingers.
4. Slowly tilt the sensor until the LED becomes solid steady.
5. Tighten the wing nut, being careful not to knock the sensor out of alignment.
6. Test by pressing the wall button, the door should close normally.

How do I lubricate a garage door?

Annually. Use a lithium-based garage door lubricant spray, never WD-40, which actually strips existing grease and dries out rollers. Apply to:

• All 10–12 rollers (a light coat on the stem, not the roller face)
• All hinges (pin only, avoid the painted surfaces)
• The torsion springs themselves (a light coat, for rust prevention)
• The center bearing and end bearing plates
• The opener rail where the trolley rides (chain drive only, belt drives shouldn't be lubed)

Don't lube the tracks themselves, rollers should roll, not slide. Lubing the track causes the rollers to drag.

How do I re-program a garage door remote to my car (HomeLink)?

HomeLink programming steps by vehicle:

1. Park the car with the front bumper ~5 feet from the garage.
2. Inside the car, press and hold the two outer HomeLink buttons until the HomeLink LED begins flashing rapidly (~20 seconds).
3. Within 30 seconds, hold your original remote about 2 inches from the HomeLink buttons. Press and hold the remote button AND the HomeLink button you want to program, simultaneously.
4. When the HomeLink LED changes from slow to rapid flash, release both.
5. If your opener has rolling-code security (almost all modern ones do), you have one more step: press and hold the "learn" button on the opener head (yellow/purple/etc.) for about 2 seconds, then within 30 seconds, press the programmed HomeLink button in your car twice. Opener should click and accept.

Why does my garage door go up but not down?

Almost always the photo eyes (safety sensors). The opener will always open, but it won't close if the photo eyes can't see each other. Wipe both lenses, make sure both LEDs are solid-steady, check that neither has been bumped out of alignment, and check the wires at the opener. If both LEDs are perfect and the door still won't close, the close-force may be too sensitive or the down-limit switch needs adjustment. Full guide: Why your garage door won't close →