Garage door spring broken: what to do now, and what happens next

Look from a distance, with the door where it is. You don't need to touch anything to see a broken spring: a photo of what you see is enough for us to bring the right one.

1. Stop using the motor. Digidoor's and Gemini's manuals both say not to use the opener when the door needs repair. Each press makes the motor fight the door's full weight.
2. If the door is closed, leave it closed. Don't pull the manual release to try to lift it by hand.
3. If the door is open, keep everyone out from under it, and the car too. Don't pull the release: ET warns that with a broken or fatigued spring an open door can plummet when it's released from the drive, and Digidoor that a roll-up door closes instantly if its torsion spring has failed when the clutch is let go.
4. Keep children and pets out of the garage until it's fixed.
5. Send us a photo of the spring and the motor, and tell us whether the door is open or closed.

If the car is trapped inside, or the door is stuck open and the house is exposed, say so when you call: the 24/7 emergency repairs across Gauteng are for exactly that.

Sometimes it will move, but it shouldn't be made to. Digidoor's manual explains why: a properly balanced door is held entirely by its springs and stays put at any point of its travel, and the opener isn't meant to make up for a door that's out of balance. With a spring broken, the motor is lifting weight it was never meant to carry, which strains its gears and can stop or reverse it partway, with the door at its most dangerous.

Lifting it by hand is no better. The weight the spring was carrying is now in your arms, and a door that gets away from you comes down hard. Centurion and ET both leave repairs to the door and its springs to qualified people, and Digidoor warns that adjusting springs can be dangerous.

What if only one of two springs has broken? The door is still out of balance: one side carries more than it should, which makes it run crooked and loads the remaining spring and cables. Treat it exactly like a fully broken spring.

Springs don't come with a fixed lifespan in the makers' manuals, and one door's springs can outlast another's by years. What shortens their life:

• Use. A spring flexes every time the door runs, so a door used many times a day wears its springs faster than one opened twice.
• Rust and friction. Centurion's RDO Digital manual asks for roll-up door springs to be greased between every coil with heavy bearing grease, warning that dry springs rust and add friction. Digidoor also asks for torsion springs to be greased and checked regularly.
• Heat and cold. The same Centurion manual notes that seasonal temperature changes make springs expand and contract, changing the friction the motor feels.
• A door out of balance. A door that's been running heavy, crooked or with a slack cable puts uneven load on its springs. Centurion's SDO4 flags an out-of-balance door with its E3 code; a door that has been showing warnings like that has been telling you something.

So when a spring breaks early, it's worth asking which of these played a part. Keeping springs greased and the door balanced is part of a service: see how to service a garage door motor.

1. We make the door safe first, taking its weight before anything is released.
2. We match the spring to the door: its type (torsion above the door, balance springs at the sides, or the springs inside a roll-up's drum), its rating for the door's weight and height, and how many the door takes.
3. We check the cables and drums, which a breaking spring can throw off or fray, and replace them if they're damaged.
4. We balance the door, so that it stays put when it's let go halfway, then test it by hand and on the motor.
5. We check the motor, and set its limits and force again where it needs them, the way Centurion's RDO Digital manual asks after a door is rebalanced.

More on the types of spring is on garage door springs, and if a cable is off its drum, see garage door cable off drum.

• Spring replacement, fitted: R1 400–R3 200 (published price lists of Gauteng installers)
• Torsion spring alone (Digidoor, 70–90 kg rating, 2,135 mm): about R890–R1 140 per spring (NeonSales)
• Cable replacement: R700–R1 600 (published price lists of Gauteng installers)
• Call-out and inspection: R450–R750 (published price lists of Gauteng installers); R350–R800 (Kandua)

These are typical market prices, not ours. Prices checked October 2026. On the call-out, with us: no call-out fee when we do the work. If no work is done, a R650 call-out fee applies. The full breakdown, with what moves the price, is on garage door spring replacement cost.

Tell us whether the door is open or closed, what kind of door it is, and send a photo if you can. We replace torsion, balance and roll-up springs and the cables that go with them, and check the motor while we're there. All our spare parts are genuine, and every repair carries our six-month guarantee on our repairs. Your exact price is set in a free quote before any work starts. No call-out fee when we do the work. If no work is done, a R650 call-out fee applies.