How do you change a cord on a miele canister vacuum cleaner

Ok, so you need to replace the cord reel on a Miele Canister Vacuum, no problem! I'll attempt to try and walk you through this repair with a detailed explanation of it, and along with some pictures to help you. You'll first want to buy a new Miele series cord reel for your particular model.

Here are links to all of the Miele cord reels if you haven't already purchased one.
Miele Cord Reels & Rewinds for All Brands


So once you have the cord reel, you'll need either a Phillips head screw driver for the older Miele models, or a T20 Torx Screwdriver for the newer models. The picture below is actually of the Miele S518 Cat & Dog series, but for this repair the procedure is identical to most Miele canisters . You'll need to remove the hose, wand, and power nozzle from the vacuum cleaner before you begin.


The first thing you'll wand to do is open up the bag housing, and remove the vacuum bag, as well as the exhaust filter which may be either the Cloth Super Air Clean Filter, or the HEPA Filter cartridge which is blue in color. If you're using the Super Air Clean filter, remove the filter, and then remove the bracket that secures the filter in place as well. Simply pull straight up on the bracket and it will come out.

Once the bag and the filter have been removed, you'll need to take off the entire tool lid. While the vacuum cleaner is open so that you can see into the compartment where the bag just was, you need to pry two arms from the tool lid off of the main body housing. Simply put a screwdriver behind one of the blue arms, and pry inwards. Here's a picture of what this looks like;


Once you have removed both of these clasps, the tool lid will pull straight upwards and off, leaving you with only the bottom part of the canister. This is how the vacuum cleaner should look now;



Now you'll need to remove the black speed control box from the canister. There is one screw in the front of the black speed control box that needs to be removed. After the screw has been removed, turn the vacuum cleaner around so that the back of the machine where the cord reel goes into the vacuum is now facing you. If you look where the black speed control box meets the bottom part of the canister, you can see two clips that you'll need to release before the variable speed control box can be removed. Simply put a screw driver and push in on the clip while lifting the black speed control box at the same time. Here's where the clips are located on the vacuum;



Ok, now that the speed control box has been removed, it's time to separate the colored plastic from the base of the vacuum cleaner. There are 7 screws that need to be removed in order to get these housings separated. I have circled the location of each screw in the picture below;



After removing all 7 screws, you can then simply pull upwards on the colored plastic housing, and remove the housing from the base of the vacuum cleaner so that the motor and cord reel are exposed. Once you have exposed the cord reel, you'll need to remove the internal wires (white wire is in the higher position, and to the left of the lower right side black wire), as well as the rubber hose part. The rubber hose part simply pulls off, just like the wire terminals do. After removing these parts, you'll need to remove one more screw with your screw driver. Here's the picture of which screw needs to be removed;



After the final screw has been removed, you'll have to remove the rectangular shaped wire harness that sits at the top of the cord reel. Pay close attention to how this wire harness is correctly seated which will save some aggravation when putting the vacuum back together. Here's a picture of the wire harness that needs to be removed from the old cord reel;



Once the wire harness has been completely removed from the old cord reel, you may simply pull up on the cord reel and remove it. The new cord reel will come completely assembled, with all the parts and components that your faulty cord reel had. You simply need to line up the screw hole on the new cord reel with the hole in the bottom of the base of the vacuum. When installing the new cord reel be very careful that you don't pinch any of the wires down by putting the cord reel on top of them. The wires have a specific place they go, and you'll be able to see the correct path for these wires when paying close attention. Also remember to install the rubber tube back onto the new cord reel as well. Once the new cord reel has been installed, and screwed down, pull the plug out a little ways, and guide the plug through the colored top housing first, then screw the 7 screws that hold the upper housing to the lower housing back into to secure these housings together.

That's about all there is to that repair! Please feel free to request a repair clarification if you have any questions about the repair that I can help you with, I'm always more then happy to help.

If this repair guide was helpful to you, please click the thumbs up icon in the bottom right part of this solution to rate it has helpful.

Thank you,

Chris J.
GoVacuum

Here's a short Video Presentation that we've put together showing how to replace the vacuum bag, motor filter, and HEPA filter on the Miele Series canister vacuum, as well as how to perform basic maintenance.


How To Maintain a Miele Canister Vacuum Cleaner