Meile Solaris. Power cord connection faulty. Unit powers on/off when cord is being retracted/pulled out. Maybe a break in wire close to connection point in vacuum. Or, the connection point itself is loose? The problem likely resulted from trying to use vacuum at furthest extent of cord.

Look inside the wire crimps with the white and yellow wires for wire strands alongside the other wires (broken off of the power cord). If you see some, that's the neutral connection.

If you don't see any stray strands in either connector, you'll have to trace the wiring. First, check how many connections there are on the power switch. If there are only two (one should be connected to the black wire going to the power cord), the answer is not there, and you'll have to identify the wire that goes directly to the motor and the lamp socket (including any wires connected together).

If there are four terminals on the power switch, with black wires going to one pair of terminals and white or yellow wires going to the other pair, identify which black wire goes to the power cord connection. The white wire next to it goes to the connection you want.

How did you manage to pull the power cord out of the connectors? There's supposed to be some kind of clamp, knot, or other restraining means where the power cord goes into the vacuum cleaner to prevent this potentially dangerous situation. If that is broken or missing, get it repaired before using the vacuum cleaner.

Check for clog. They turn off when clogged to protect motor. Do you have suction from hose, can you see through wand. Or you may have pulled cord away from cordwinder which would probably need to be replaced.

Fire cleaning lady!

Money saved would be enough to buy a new machine!

These type of cord retractors have a set of contacts which sometimes get corroded or bent. Or maybe the reel has become wobbly.
As the cord reel moves, these contacts should have enough pressure stay in contact with the tracks on the reel at all times.

You sound like a handy person, so you would have to take the assembly right out of the machine and perhaps be able to correct the situation.
Some of these contacts are easily accessible, and others not so easily.

While you have the old assembly out anyway, you also might be able to buy a new one to replace it.

Without a close look it's hard to guess what to advise you.

Maybe a vac repair shop could throw in an tune up as well?
Check the motor brushes and so on?

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Try standing the vacuum on end, or at a near vertical position, and gently tugging on the cord a few times. This will usually cause it to retract. The problem is usually caused by pulling the cord out too far. Avoid doing this as it can result in disconnecting or breaking terminals and/or wiring.

it is possible that the cord rewinder has become broken inside the unit. It is a common problem with this and other models by Miele.

There IS a fix to the cord rewind, unless your model falls within the 5 year warranty. In which case contact your nearest Miele dealer for a replacement to the cord rewinder.

Good luck.

I don't have the exact same model as you guys, but maybe my situation is similar to yours. My Miele Silver moon model won't turn on one day. I took it to a Miele authorized repair shop ( they all offer free estimate on finding the problem first, then they will tell you what the repair cost will be). They said my vacuum cord reel shim was damaged. The damage was caused by over stretching the cord while I vacuumed. According to them the shim is kind of like a clip that holds the cord inside the vacuum. When the shim is damaged, the cords are pulled apart and electricity can no longer pass through. That would expalin why it won't turn on. The repair cost was not too bad, it costed forty-six dollars. I hope this helps.

Same thing happened to my Wertheim 4030. It turned out to be a broken connection in the retractable cord plug, no doubt due to continual shock upon retraction. How did I find it? By pulling the top off and first checking the internal switch was working with an ohmmeter (definitely no power for this test) Then plugged in, powered up & checked if any power to switch with AC voltage tester(be careful and have unit RCD protected for your safety) None showing, so checked if power at internal reel. None, so switched off power and checked continuity of cord for active and neutral continuity. None in one so cut off plug and checked again OK so new plug fitted and reassembled. If I had power to the switch originally, the motherboard/rheostat or motor may have been the problem. Hot wiring the motor would have determined which(unlikely to be both but a possibility) Repair or replace faulty item, obviously checking motor brushes first. Electrical is simply a matter of isolation and elimination.
rjjs

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.

The trim pieces along the sides just pull off seperating the two housings. The back portion where the retract drum is is held by two plastic tangs on top inside. use a screwdriver to pry the ring down to dislodge the tangs. the bottom part will lift off. remove the front part using two screws just below the hinge. the retract has a long coil spring wound around a free spinning hub. there are two "tangs" inside that engage a ratchet-pawl assembly. you'll need to rotate the drum to rewind the spring onto its hub.