Why Is My Garage Door Light Blinking and Not Opening? 3 Common Causes and Fixes

At best, a garage door system that blinks and won’t open is inconvenient—but at worst, it’s a serious safety hazard. However, fixing the problem can be tricky if you aren’t sure why your garage door light is blinking and not opening. To help, we’ve listed three common causes of this problem, as well as next steps for fixing each one.

1. Door Is Locked

Many garage door openers have a manual locking feature, which won’t let you open the door with a remote. The purpose of this feature is to keep your home secure while you’re out of town. But if you accidentally activate it while you’re home, you might notice your garage door light blinking and not opening when you press the remote.

How to Fix It

With some garage doors, you can press and hold the wall button to release the safety lock. However, every garage door is different, so you’ll want to check your user manual for specific instructions on how to disengage this feature.

2. Blocked, Dirty, or Misaligned Sensors

Sensors—also called photo eyes—are another important garage door safety feature. Located close to the ground near the door panel, these devices detect if there’s anything in the door’s path while it’s closing. If so, the sensor will tell the motor to stop closing the door.

Garage door sensors can malfunction if there’s something obstructing their view. They can also get dirty or become misaligned. In either of these cases, your garage door light might blink repeatedly and fail to open or close.

How to Fix It

First, check if anything is blocking the sensors. If so, move the object out of the sensors’ view and try to open the garage door again. If that doesn’t do the trick, use a dry microfiber cloth to gently clean the sensors’ lenses.

If neither of those fixes works, you can try realigning your garage door sensors. Here’s how: 

1. Turn off your garage door’s power at the wall outlet or breaker box.

2. Loosen the screws on each sensor’s mounting bracket.

3. Slide the sensors toward the ground. Try to get them as low as possible while remaining in their brackets.

4. Run a tight string between the sensors.

5. Use a level to see if the string is straight. If not, slide the brackets up slightly until the string is level.

6. Tighten the screws on the mounting brackets.

7. Confirm that the string (and sensors) are still level.

8. Turn the power back on.

9. Try to open or close the garage door to test the sensors.

3. Wiring Issues

Your garage door system consists of many different electrical components. Over time, the wiring connecting the various parts of your garage door can short out or wear down, potentially leading to a blinking, non-functioning garage door.

How to Fix It

It’s safest to call a professional for this type of problem. However, if you have experience with electrical work, you might be able to identify and fix the wiring issue yourself using your garage door’s wiring diagram. 

When to Call a Pro

Some of these solutions are quick, easy, and DIY-friendly. For example, disabling your garage door’s safety lock or cleaning the sensors only takes a few minutes.

However, if you think there might be an electrical or mechanical issue, it’s best to contact a local garage door repair pro. If you’re inexperienced and try to work on a garage door’s electrical system, you could shock yourself or start a fire. Plus, since garage doors often weigh up to 400 pounds, you could get trapped and injured if one fell on you.

Fortunately, hiring a pro might not be as expensive as you think. On average, garage door repairs cost between $160 and $380, depending on the specific problem.