Open Sesame Garages · Oklahoma City
My garage door will not open and my car is trapped inside. What do I do?
Find the red release cord hanging from the trolley on the opener rail and pull it — that disconnects the door from the opener so you can lift it by hand. This only works if the springs are intact. If the door feels dangerously heavy, will not stay where you put it, or you heard a loud bang before it stopped working, a spring has broken: stop immediately and call for emergency service, because an insulated double door with a broken spring can weigh 150 to 250 pounds with nothing holding it up.
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First: work out whether this is the opener or the springs
The two failures look identical from the wall button — nothing happens — but they need completely different responses, and getting it wrong is how people get hurt.
It is the opener if there is no sound at all, or the motor runs while the door stays still, or the lights are dead. In that case the door itself is fine and the manual release will work normally.
It is a spring if you heard a loud bang (often the night before), if the door lifts a few inches and stops, or if the opener strains and gives up. Look at the bar above the door: a broken torsion spring shows a visible two to three inch gap where the coils separated.
Using the manual release safely
- Do it with the door fully closed if you possibly can. Pulling the release with the door partway up means the door is suddenly manual and unsupported, and a door with a weak spring can drop.
- Pull the red cord straight down until you hear the trolley disconnect from the carriage.
- Lift the door with both hands, evenly, from the centre. It should feel manageable — a properly balanced door weighs about 10 pounds to lift by hand regardless of its actual weight.
- Stop if it does not. Heavy, jerky, uneven, or refusing to stay up all mean the springs are not doing their job. Lower it gently if it is safe to do so, and call.
- Once the car is out, do not leave the door standing open. Lower it and clamp a pair of locking pliers onto the track just above a roller so it cannot be lifted from outside.
What not to do, even though you are in a hurry
- Do not keep pressing the button. If a spring is broken, the opener is now carrying weight it was never designed to lift and will strip its drive gear within a handful of attempts. This is the single most common way a $200 repair becomes a $600 one.
- Do not prop the door with a car jack, a broom handle, or anything else while you back out underneath it.
- Do not touch the springs, cables, winding cones or bottom brackets. All of them hold live tension whether the door is up or down.
- Do not have someone hold the door up while you drive out. If it comes down, it comes down on the car and possibly on them.
When it is worth paying for an emergency call
If the car is trapped and you need it before morning — a shift, a flight, a medical appointment — that is exactly what emergency dispatch is for, and Open Sesame Garages runs it 24/7 across Oklahoma City, Edmond, Norman, Moore, Midwest City, Yukon and Mustang.
If the car can wait until morning, say so on the phone. Booking the same repair in daylight avoids the after-hours fee, and a door with a broken spring is stable overnight as long as nobody keeps cycling it. We would rather tell you that than dispatch for a job that could have waited eight hours.
Related questions
Where exactly is the manual release cord?
It is a red cord with a plastic handle hanging from the trolley — the carriage that rides along the rail between the opener motor and the door. It is usually near the middle of the garage ceiling, a foot or two behind the top of the door when the door is closed.
How do I reconnect the opener after using the manual release?
Close the door fully, then pull the release cord toward the door (or on some models, simply run the opener) and the trolley re-latches on the next cycle. If the door moved position while disconnected, the opener may need its travel limits reset, which is a normal adjustment rather than a fault.
Can I lift the door myself if only one of two springs is broken?
You should not. A door with one broken spring out of two is unbalanced and will lift crooked, which puts uneven load on the cables and can pull the door off its tracks. It also weighs far more than it should. Get the car out only if the emergency justifies it, and stop if the door resists at all.
How fast can someone get to me in the OKC metro?
Typical emergency arrival is 20 to 45 minutes inside Oklahoma City, 25 to 55 for Midwest City and Del City, 30 to 60 for Edmond and Moore, and 40 to 70 for Norman and Mustang. You get an honest window on the phone along with the price.
Need this fixed, not just explained?
Open Sesame Garages serves Oklahoma City and the surrounding metro with same-day estimates and 24/7 emergency repair.