Power cord broken inside reel

Turn the machine upside down look where the screw holes (perhaps under the cover caps) are from brand to brand this differ but also the marketing technical inventions can sometimes make it almost impossible without attachments if a reel with roller spring to come in handy remember the spring tension of the scroll spring.

If you can get into the reel unit check and see if you have a broken wire . I had one like this and I repaired the wire and the reel was ok after that. I fixed another where the wire and reel were both broken and instead of spending the money for a new reel I pulled the cord out of the reel and hooked the wire back up to the machine and then the cord just would not wind up any more but it worked that way for a long time.

If you're talking about the cord that you pull out from the reel located at the rear of the machine, you'll have to take the top cover off first. Usually two philips head screws located under rear exhaust cover and one maybe two near the front end. Once that is removed, there will be two more philips screws, one on each side of the top rear of the machine and one on the bottom. Remove all three of them, pull about a foot of cord off of the reel and get it to catch, the using the heel of your right hand, hit the very back of the machine, (the rubber bumper part) on the top with a motion pulling toward the back. This may take a couple of tries if you're not used to removing this part, but one or two swipes should eventually loosen the rear cover. Once it is loosened you may carefully pull it out of the back end of the machine and take off the two wire connections. This will free up the cordwinder assy. so you can take it to a spot where you have some room to work. Now lay the assembly on it's back and take the four screws, one from each corner of the rear cover, out and lay them aside. Thread the cord plug through the opening and wind the free cord back onto the reel, allowing the spring to pull it slowly out of your hand and then wrap the plug end around and around the reel till the spring is unwound, then you can remove the "C" clip from the center post, sometimes hidden under a cardboard washer. With the clip removed you can gently pull the cord reel up and off the post, carefully bringing the rewind spring up and off it's post as well. If you've tested the cord and are sure that it's your problem then you can cut the remainder of the cord from the reel and throw it away. The reel is easier to deal with without the cord on it. Turn the reel over so the back cover is exposed, there should be three screws that can be removed so you can take the connections loose from the posts inside and make ready for the new cord. Once you've attached the new cord and tied your strain relief knot, like the one you removed, you're ready to wrap the cord onto the reel and just reverse the procedure. When you get ready to put the loaded reel back into the cordwinder body, just before you put the cover on, wrap the plug end around the reel three times. This loads the spring so that it will pull the cord completely back into the unit. And it doesn't hurt to drop a spot of oil onto the top of the post for the spring.

Hello,

When a Miele canister just stops working all of a sudden, it's usually a pretty clear indication that either you have a bad cord reel, or a bad switch. I would say that in 60% of Miele repairs that I do with this problem, the cord reel has gone bad.

One easy thing that you can try to see if the cord is bad, is put one hand on the on/off switch, and the other hand grab the cord (making sure it's fully retracted inside the canister). Now pull the cord out slowly with your one hand, while continously turning the switch on / off, on / off. Keep pressing the switch on and off while pulling on the cord. Usually if the cord reel has gone bad, then you may hear the vacuum attempt to start, or even turn on while you're pulling on the cord. The cord reels in Miele use a metal spring inside that makes connection with the rest of the vacuum. Over time this spring will start to loose it's strength, and eventually will get so bad that it no longer makes contact with the rest of the vacuum. By pulling the cord out slowly and pressing the on / off switch, a lot of the times the spring will make connection somewhere, and the motor may turn on temporarily.

If this happens, this indicates your cord reel needs to be replaced. I have done a detailed repair here on Fixya on how to replace the cord on a Miele canister vacuum that you may read here;
http://www.fixya.com/support/t2281026-miele_s514_will_not_come

If you can't get the vacuum to turn on at all, this can only mean a few things. First the cord reels spring is gone completely, and wont make any connection with the rest of the vacuum, and you'll still need to replace it.

It also can mean that just the plug that plugs into the wall is bad, is your plug bent, or no longer straight on either prong?

It can also mean that your motor has gone bad. This however is usually the least likely of all the problems. The Miele motors are almost bullet proof, and typically last 20 years. I can count on one hand the number of Miele motor replacements I've ever done in 10 years of fixing vacuums.

I can try and help you diagnosis this further if my suggestions didn't help you. Please use the clarification request that you see here on this page to ask me a question. Please just let me know what happened when you tested the cord out as I suggested above. I really hope this was helpful to you. If you found this to be helpful, please be sure to rate the repair as helpful to you by clicking the thumbs up icon. I really appreciate that.

Chris J.

1 screw in the front, two in the blower port. take them out and the top bezel comes off. one screw in the bottom and two on the top. need a flat blade screw driver to pry out the cord reel. 4 screws holds the sheild of the reel. take them out and there is a snap ring that hold the reel on the shaft. the reel assembly and drum spring comes out at the same time. 3 screws on the bottom of the reel holding a metal plate and there is also snap ring hold the spring on the metal plate take that off and will expose the cord connection. unhook the the cord and untie the knot and replace the cord and reverse the process

This is a tricky problem and if your are not mechanically skilled can destroy your cord reel. Basically the reel spring has collapsed inside and you need to install two washers to help push the contacts back into place. Take the entire unit apart and look at the cord reel, the part of the reel directly nearest the unit is where you want to put the two washers. It looks like a spigot, pu two washers on that and put back into place. This is one way to fix the unit. The other way is way more involved and requires vacuum experience

sounds like the spring is either over stretched or broken. you may have to have the spring replaced

cord reel assembly maybe the spring jumped one time over out over 1 of the confirmationpoints of the reel assembly or the roller on the shaft is worn something is broken on the shaft and or mounting points that it tilts and walks somewhere against, sometime its better to get out the spring of the unit instead of repair because of the costs.

May have broken the cord, in which case you will probably have to repace the reel cord asm. But you will have to take it apart to find out. Take off the bumper that gores around the cannister, there are 3 or 4 clips that hold the two halfs together.

Mine was a simple fix. Hope yours is too.

You need to take the unit apart to get to the cord reel. If you don't know how to take your unit apart, here are some instructions on how to take apart most of the Miele canister units.

http://www.sannerud.com/house/miele.html

Once it is apart, you will need to take out the cord reel. There is a small rubber hose which needs to be removed on the outermost part of the reel. Then there is one small silver screw that you must remove as well. One these two items have been removed, carefully lift the entire cord reel assembly upwards. When you are doing this, ensure that you are also lifting the black and white wiring along with the reel - just make sure that you're not yanking it and possibly breaking the connectors off. As you lift the entire reel assembly out, you can also remove the white wiring harness which connects to the main switches on the vacuum.

Now, here is the trickiest part - not really that tricky if you are good with your hands.

First, make sure that the cord is retracted fully. Then, start pulling the white plastic cord reel away from the black plastic assembly about 1 inch or so. Between the black assembly and the white reel, you'll notice a copper-like metal spring which is attached to the white reel. Make sure that as you are removing the white reel further, that you are maintaining visibility with the copper-like spring. DO NOT LET THE SPRING OUT OF ITS OWN WHITE REEL (the spring has its own reel which is difficult to wind up again, so be very careful!).

Make sure that the spring is fully retracted at this time. If it is not, wind the reel so that the spring is not wound up anymore around the white reel. Carefully slip the spring out of the white reel and leave the spring as-is ensuring that it does not unwind itself out of its own reel.

Now that you have the white reel off the black assembly, inspect the inside of the inner part of the white reel. You'll see two copper rings with 'wings' on them. These wings transfer power to the vacuum. There may be some grease (black) which you should wipe off with a paper towel. Also wipe the metal rings on the black assembly which touch these 'wings'. (the wings touch the metal rings to send constant power to the motor. The wings are there so that as you wind and unwind the power cord from the vacuum, there is always constant contact with the metal rings on the black assembly.

Now, carefully pull the wings up and out. If you can picture it in your head, what you're doing is ensuring that there is a good contact between the copper wings and the metal rings on the black assembly. Do this for all 4 wings on both the inner and outer copper rings within the white reel. Make sure that the 4 pads are clean and grease/dirt free.

Once you've done this, it's time to put the white reel back on the black assembly. Do everything you did earlier, but in reverse.

Carefully take the copper spring and align it to the white reel - you'll see a specific slot where the spring slides and grabs onto on the white reel. You'll probably have to place the white reel slightly onto the black assembly rod in order to achieve this - again, you must be good with your hands to do this without breaking anything.

Once the copper spring is attached to the white reel, press the rest of the white reel onto the black assembly. HINT: turn the white reel slightly so that you're applying some tension on the spring - this will make sure that the spring doesn't fall out of the white reel.

Reassemble the cord reel assembly (black and white parts) back into the vacuum. Make sure that the black and white power cables are out of the way. Once seated, wrap the black and white cables around the assembly and reseat the white wiring harness. Reapply the black rubber tube to the cord reel assembly and replace the silver screw to hold the entire harness down.

Close the vacuum casing, replace the control panel (power and cord buttons). Close the unit, plug it in, and power it on!

If it worked for you, congrats! If it didn't, sorry, you've got a much bigger problem with your unit.