Your garage door won’t open when you use your remote control from your car in the driveway? If your garage door opener is working properly in every other way but NOT receiving the signal from your remote when the garage door is closed, there are a few things you can do. (If your garage door button on the wall of your garage opens your garage door, then we know the door is working and must consider this as a communication issue.)
We are going to assume there is a communication problem from using your remote from outside with the garage door shut. There may be something interfering with the signal or possibly something else.
First make sure the batteries are in working order in your remote control. If so, go inside your garage with the remote you had in your car, and with the garage closed, test the remote to see if the door opens. If not then your remote is most likely broken and you need to replace it. We will assume this since the button on the garage door wall opened the door. Try another remote you know that works. Test it from inside the garage and then test it from outside the garage.
How to fix a Garage Door Opener – Remote not working
If the remote works from inside the garage but not from the outside, then most likely the antenna wire on the garage door opener itself may be damaged, broken, or not in visible range. Check to be sure the antenna is attached and if it is not hanging down from the unit, move the antenna so it can catch the beam being sent by the remote. Please note that the antenna on some garage door openers is encased inside the unit itself.
Garage Door Opener Antenna Extension
Another issue could be that there is some sort of interference from different wireless devices in use near your area. If this is the case then find the antenna mount point and add a wire to it to make it longer. If this does not work there are other solutions. There are extenders that allow you to send the signal from outside the house and it runs by a wire to the garage opener unit.
There are reliable units called universal garage door opener receivers. These are an optional add on unit if you have issues opening your garage door from the outside. These units are used because they improve the range of your remote. As most garage door remotes work only about 20 feet from the opener, this unit will make it so you can open your garage from up to 100 yards away. This unit is called the Liftmaster 850LM Universal Gate and Garage Door Opener Receiver and is available for right around $40 dollars and WILL solve your garage door opening issues.
There are now systems that link into your home WIFI wireless that let you open your garage door with your smartphone.
How To Open Your Garage Door With Your iPhone or Android Phone
Do you know of an easier method to allow a remote control to open a garage door with interference problems? Please let us know by leaving a comment below.
Written by Keith Schneerer
Certified Appliance Tech · Founder, RemoveAndReplace.com
Keith has spent 30+ years repairing machines, starting as a military mechanic and later maintaining food processing equipment before moving into appliance repair. He founded RemoveAndReplace.com to share field-tested repair advice.
More about Keith →
i have 2 garages. I can’t open one of the garages with the remote. The other one works fine and i am able to program both remotes with it without any problems so i know its not the remote. The one that doesn’t work with the remote has been like this since we moved in. The hard wired buttons work fine though. The issue seems to be with the receiver but i am not 100% sure. Any ideas what it could be ? They are both chamberlain 0.5 HP units nothing fancy. I tried soldering a heavier gauge wire for the antenna but that didn’t do anything..
My Liftmaster openers will only work when in the garage under the actual opener. Both car homelink buttons also stopped working. Wall button works, key pad outside works, but remotes will not work outside of the garage. My neighbors are also having the exact same issues. All were working fine until last Friday and now everyone has the same issues. Any thoughts? Any recommendations to remedy this situation?
William,
Yes we have had others with the same issue of LED bulbs interfering with the Garage door remote opening and shutting.
Try putting the older style bulbs back in and see if the problem stops.
-RR
I have just started to have this problem about a month ago. The only changes I have made is I put an LED light bulb in the garage door opener. That’s about the time my opener started acting up. Could the LED bulb be interfering with the signal from the remotes? I have started to replace all of the bulbs in my house with the new LED bulbs which do not have the elements in them like the old bulbs. Have anyone else put LED bulbs in their house or garage door opener and started having problems with it opening with the remotes in your car (Built-in or portable remotes)?
Steve McMillen,
You may have some interference causing the remotes to not work “all of a sudden”.
Are you near any military bases?
Any new purchases of electronics with remotes?
A new baby monitor?
A new computer router?
Cable company doing any installation or service work near your home?
If you have neighbors with garage door openers are they having any problems also?
Have you tried the door opener remote with the car engine turned off?
It is a possibility that there some interference coming from the engine.
Let us know what you can find.
-RR
All of a sudden my “built-in remote” on both of our cars will not open garage door. The door will open with inside remote on wall. Any ideas?
Khai,
Can you tell us the brand of garage door opener and the model number? Did someone possibly move the switches on the opener and change the code? Check the opener itself to see if the sensor and or switches are working and in the proper setting.
-RR