If you have a garage door that will not open all the way, there are a couple different reasons why this could be happening. Your garage door opener is just a guide for the garage door telling it where to go and when to stop. However when your garage door opener is not working as expected that doesn’t necessarily mean there is a problem with your opener, it could very easily be an issue with the door itself.

Let’s go over a few scenarios and what they mean.

First of all if your door is opening less than a foot, or maybe only a couple of inches you probably have a broken spring. Whatever you do, do not continue to hit the button, the door will not magically fix itself. 

Also, pulling the emergency cord to release the door from the motor is not going to help you get the door open. The reason this doesn’t work is because the spring system is a counter balance system, so they are what makes the door feel light and easy to pick up.

 When you have a broken spring the door is going to become too heavy to lift manually. ( In most cases) If you do have a lighter weight door and you are strong enough to lift it you must be careful because you run the risk of causing a cable to come off the djrum, if this happens your door will get lopsided and come off the track which can cause a much more expensive repair. 

Another possible scenario is you hit the button and the opener will only move 6-8” at a time not allowing the door to open all the way. If this is the case then you do have a problem with the garage door opener. In most cases this will be a failed RPM sensor ( a pretty easy fix, but based on the age of the opener you may want to consider replacement).  If you have a genie opener that is doing this it is most likely a bad encoder. Some models the encoder is built into the logic board and requires that you change the logic board, on others the encoder is separate from the logic board. In order to find out which type you have you can call Genies technical support. 

Finally, if your garage door is opening, but not all the way but it is stopping at the same point every time, and that point isn’t just a few inches off of the ground, you may either need to A) reset the open limit on your opener ( consult your owners manual for this, download one online if you do not have it) or it is possible that travel module has gone bad. Start by attempting to reset the open limit. If it will not work ( it won’t allow you to go through the process or it doesn’t retain the memory of the limit setting) then your travel module is bad.

These are the most common problems, causes and solutions for your garage door not opening all the way, either a broken spring, a bad RPM sensor/encoder  or a faulty travel module. Garage door repairs always seem more simple than what they can be in reality and we obviously recommend at least contacting a professional before attempting to repair it yourself. Especially if your problem is a broken spring.