What to Do when Garage Door Won’t Close and Light Blinks

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Written By Hassan Zaka

I'm an experienced expert in accounting and technical writing, skilled at simplifying complex topics with engaging visuals. Ideal for any organization in need of top-tier technical writing services.

As a homeowner, you rely on your garage door opener every day to get access to your garage and your vehicle. Many people are unaware of how much they rely on their garage door opener until it suddenly stops working. To ensure that your garage door opener always works properly, it is critical that you perform routine maintenance and address any problems with your garage door opener as soon as they arise.

Here are the following reasons why the Garage Door Won’t Close and the Light Blinks

  • Sensors Blocked
  • The Garage Door Is Locked
  • Misalign sensors
  • Wiring Problems
  • Error Code due to Multiple Reason

To fix this garage door won’t close you have to remove the obstruction blocking the sensors, realign the sensor by ensuring the green light is on, and lastly, fix the error code according to manuals.

Unclog the sensors and How to fix them?

The doors will not close if the sensors on your garage door are obstructed. This is due to the use of an invisible beam of infrared light by the safety sensors. The doors will not close if something is blocking the beam.

However, a blocked sensor does not always indicate that there is something in their path of them. If the doors are exceedingly dusty and unclean, the sensors may prevent them from shutting.

How to fix it?

  • Remove any obstacles in front of the sensors.
  • Wipe down the sensors with a cloth. Remove any dust or debris from them.
  • To test it, press the garage door opener. Continue to the following section if it still does not shut.

Garage Door Is Locked and How to fix it?

Many modern garage door openers include a locking mechanism that keeps the door firmly closed. If someone locks the garage door by mistake or without your knowledge, you may be unable to open it using the remote. For security purposes, the locking mechanism prevents the door from being opened by a remote, allowing only the wall button to be used to access the entrance.

If you try to open the garage door with the remote in this case, you will see that the garage door opener light will blink continuously.

How to fix it?

Simply hold down the wall button for a few seconds until the lock is removed to stop the light from flashing and make the remote functional again.

Adjust the Sensors and How to fix it?

Even if the sensors have been unblocked, your garage door will not close. This might suggest that the sensors need to be realigned.

But how can you know whether your sensors need to be realigned? The following should serve as a guideline.

  • Both sensors have lights, but only one is turned on.
  • Only the yellow light on the transmitting sensor is visible.
  • The green light on the receiving sensor is off

If any of the above facts are true, you can deduce that your sensor is misaligned. Here’s how you can check the sensors’ alignment and bring them back into position.

  • Check to see if any of the sensors have been displaced. If it has, reposition it.
  • Check that the receiving sensor’s green light is back on.
  • To test it, press the garage door opener. Continue to the following section if it still does not shut.

Wiring Problems and How to fix it?

Another explanation for a constantly blinking light on your garage door opener might be wiring problems. Your garage door depends on sensors to ensure that when motion is detected beneath the garage door, the garage door will reverse its closing. If the sensors are not correctly linked, the garage door light will continually flash and the door will not close.

Moving sensors around is a straightforward task, I must say. However, repairing a loose wire connection may appear to be more difficult than you anticipated. That is why I will now go into further depth about repairing a loose wire connection.

How to fix it?

Reconnect any dangling wires.

Check that the sensor cables are correctly attached to the motor unit. This indicates that the white wires should be twisted together and plugged into the motor’s white terminal. The white wire with grey stripes is connected to the grey terminal. If you discover that these wires are in the wrong spot after inspecting them, you will need to remove them and change them around.

Inspect by a professional to identify and correct any electrical faults that are causing your garage door light to blink.

Check the door once you’ve checked the connections and, if required, repaired them. It should now be finished. If it doesn’t, it might mean that there’s an issue with the wiring that you can’t see. You will need to contact a specialist to remedy this.

The Error Codes and How to fix it?

An LED light indication is normally found on the bottom panel, the rear of the device, or behind one of the light lenses in openers with dual lights. The LED light indicator will flash for a certain amount of time depending on the nature of the problem with your system. This is a wonderful technique to self-diagnose a garage door opener problem.

Just take a look at the following general guidelines.

NOTE: The information below applies to older and most motor units on a standard chain drive garage door opener. Continue reading for more information about different garage door openers.

Blinks on the Motor Unit Problem Solution
1 blink The sensor wires are disconnected Check the wiring between the motor unit and the sensors. Repair any broken or damaged wiring.
2 blinks The sensor wires have shorted Check the wiring between the motor unit and the sensors. Repair any broken or damaged wiring.
4 blinks The sensors are not aligned properly Realign the sensors. Check that the green receiving light is on.

If you have a belt drive garage door, it is most often controlled by blinking arrows. When these arrows light up, they also spell out fault codes that you may use to troubleshoot the garage door.

Here is how you can troubleshoot the blinking arrows.

Blinks on the Motor Unit* Problem Solution
1 blink up then 1 blink down The sensors are faulty or have been removed     Check the wiring between the motor unit and the sensors. Repair any broken or damaged wiring.
1 blink up then 2 blinks down     The wires have shorted     Check the wiring between the motor unit and the sensors. Repair any broken or damaged wiring.
1 blink up then 4 blinks down The sensors are not aligned properly. Or there is an obstruction in front of the sensor.   Realign the sensors. Check that the green receiving light is on.
4 blinks up then 6 blinks down The sensors are not aligned properly. Or there is an obstruction in front of the sensor.   Realign the sensors. Check that the green receiving light is on.  

 

If you have a Liftmaster and chamberlain garage door opener and looking for a troubleshooting flashing code manual then there is a complete guide on Liftmaster flashing codes with solutions.

 

 

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