Why does my garage door opener click but nothing happens?

Listen First: Click, Hum, or Both?

This diagnosis starts with your ears, standing under the motor head while someone presses the wall button:

• Click plus a strained hum for a few seconds: classic dead capacitor. The motor wants to spin but has no starting torque. The hum stops when the thermal overload gives up. This is the most repairable outcome on the list.
• Click, then instant silence: the board fired the relay but the motor circuit is open, pointing to the motor windings, thermal fuse or wiring. Also check whether the opener light comes on; light plus dead motor keeps the fault downstream of the board.
• Click, motor spins briefly, then quits after 6 to 8 inches or before moving: RPM sensor. The board starts the motor, sees no rotation feedback, and shuts down as a safety measure. LiftMaster units often blink a 5-flash code alongside this one.
• Rapid clicking like a chattering relay: board or power supply trouble, frequently post-storm surge damage. Our logic board guide takes over from there.

Why Capacitors Die in Oklahoma Garages

The starting capacitor is a cylinder about the size of a C battery mounted inside the motor housing, and it hates heat. An uninsulated garage in Moore or Del City spends July and August at 110 to 130 degrees at ceiling height, exactly where the capacitor lives. Electrolytic capacitors age roughly twice as fast for every 18 degrees above their rating, which is why the failure calls cluster in late summer: the part cooks all season, then fails on a random Tuesday. A bulged top, split casing or leaked residue confirms it visually. The repair is inexpensive — a cheap part plus one service visit including diagnosis — and it restores full function on an otherwise good opener. One caution: capacitors store a charge after unplugging, enough to bite. If you do not know how to discharge one safely, this is a poor first DIY project.

The Repair-Math on Motor and Sensor Failures

An RPM sensor is a modest part and worth replacing on most units under 12 years old. A genuinely dead motor is a different conversation: motor assemblies for older openers, when still available, approach half the cost of a new unit installed, and the board, gears and rail that remain are the same age as the motor that just died. That is exactly the scenario our repair-or-replace article was written for, and where a new opener installed with a fresh warranty usually wins. Two more quick checks before you assume the worst, though: confirm the outlet is actually delivering power (a half-tripped GFCI can produce weird low-voltage behavior; see our outlet and circuit explainer), and make sure the door itself is not jammed or spring-broken, because some openers click and refuse to start against an immovable load. A broken torsion spring plus a clicking opener is a very common pairing on our 24/7 emergency calls, and in that case the spring, not the opener, is the real patient. Free estimates either way through opener repair, with average response of 20 to 50 minutes across the metro.