Broken Garage Door Spring or Snapped Cable: What Happens Next
A bang from the garage, a door that will not lift, or a door hanging crooked with a cable loose. This is the one garage door fault where the right move is to leave everything exactly as it is and call. Here is why, and what the repair costs.
Quick Answer
A garage door spring broken or a cable snapped leaves the door without the counterbalance that makes it light, so it becomes a dead weight the opener cannot lift and you should not try to. Leave the door where it is, keep people and cars clear of it and call. A single spring is $240–$280 incl. GST, a pair $440–$550 and a cable $280–$550. Elite Garage Doors Perth attends 24/7 with no call-out fee.
What's Usually Behind It
Cycle fatigue
Springs are rated for a set number of opens and closes. A door used four times a day gets through them in a few years, and the spring lets go on an ordinary morning with no warning.
Rust and corrosion
Perth's dry dust and, near the coast, salt air pit the steel. A rusted coil concentrates stress at the pit and cracks there, well before its cycle life is up.
Frayed or slipped cable
Lift cables wear where they wind onto the drum. A few broken strands become a snap under load, or the cable jumps the drum when a spring fails and the door drops a fraction.
Wrong spring for the door
A spring that is too light for the door works too hard every cycle; one that is too heavy slams the door up. Either shortens the life of the spring and the opener alike.
Bracket or bearing wear
Worn end bearings and loose centre brackets let the shaft flex, which loads the spring unevenly. The first sign is usually a groan on the way up.
No servicing
A door that is never balanced or lubricated runs its springs dry and out of tune until one breaks. The annual service is where a cracked coil gets spotted first.
Safe Checks Before You Call
Fine to check yourself
- From a safe distance, look above a sectional door for a gap in the spring coil; a broken torsion spring shows a clear split.
- Look at both sides of the door: a cable hanging loose, a bottom bracket sitting higher on one side or a door leaning in the opening all confirm the diagnosis.
- Note whether the door is fully closed, fully open or partway; tell us when you call, because a door stopped mid-travel needs to be secured first.
- Keep children, pets and the car away from the door until we arrive.
Leave to a technician
- Do not pull the manual release or try to lift the door by hand; with the spring gone it weighs as much as it looks, and it can fall.
- Do not run the opener to see if it will manage; you will strip the drive gear on top of the spring.
- Do not touch, unwind, clamp or replace a spring or cable yourself, even if you own the tools.
When to Stop and Call
Put the tools down and ring us if you notice any of these:
- You heard a loud bang from the garage
- There is a visible gap in the spring above the door
- A cable is hanging loose or wound around the drum
- The door hangs crooked or one side is higher
- The opener strains, hums or lifts the door a few centimetres then stops
- A roller door has become very heavy or slams down
Recommended Services
What This Repair Costs
| Fault | Guide range (incl. GST) | Notes |
|---|
These are guide figures and include GST. The final price turns on which part has failed and the door you have; you hear the exact number from the technician before any work starts, and quoting is free.
Spring gone and the car is inside?
Call 0412 988 733 at any hour. We secure the door, fit the spring or cable from stock on the van in most cases, rebalance and test, and confirm the price incl. GST before starting. No call-out fee anywhere in the Perth metro area.
Frequently Asked Questions
Leave the door where it is, keep everyone clear and call. Do not run the opener and do not lift the door by hand. If the car is inside and you have to leave, say so when you ring and we treat it as an emergency. The repair is a single visit in most cases; the garage door repairs page covers what else we check while we are there.
In Perth a single spring is $240–$280 incl. GST fitted, a pair $440–$550, and three- and four-spring doors $660–$770 and $880–$1,000. A slipped spring that is still sound is re-tensioned for $280–$330. There is no call-out fee. The full breakdown is on the spring replacement cost guide.
Sometimes the opener will drag it up once or twice, which is the worst thing that can happen, because the motor is lifting a dead weight it was never built for and the cables are carrying a load they may not hold. The gear strips, a cable snaps, and a $240 repair becomes three. Leave it shut until the spring is replaced.
No. A sectional door without its spring weighs as much as an adult, and it will not stay up if you let go. Roller doors are the same once the spring in the drum has gone. Our manual opening guide explains the safe release for a door with working springs, and why a broken spring is the exception.
Fix it. A spring is a wear part, and replacing it puts the door back to how it was for a small fraction of a new door's $3,000–$5,000. Replacement only enters the picture when the panels, tracks and opener are all worn out too. Our are garage door springs dangerous article covers why we insist on doing this one ourselves.
24/7 Emergency
Garage Door Repairs Perth
Door jammed at 11pm? Spring gone on a public holiday? Ring 0412 988 733 whenever it happens, or book a slot online. Technicians cover every Perth suburb.