Won't Turn On

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.

I had gthe same problem with my White Pear S444i. I called technical support at Miele and they recommended pulling the cord out 3 or 4 feet and plugging it in. It went on right away. He said it is probably something in the cord reel, and said it would need to be serviced if it continues to happen, but in the meantime this worked.