Can anyone advise me before I open up a Powerglide S4256 to repair please?

[FireAngel]

Hi all, this is my first post.

I have a Hoover Powerglide S4256 that dates from about 1986, when I bought it new. It still works fine except for one aspect of it that has recently become unreliable. The on-off switch doesn't switch the machine on reliably any more. Sometimes I switch on, it ignores me so I switch off, switch on, and repeat until it works. Once it comes on it works as normal, but it's become more and more tedious getting it to switch on this way. Sometimes now I switch off and on ten times or more before it works.

Since I am usually capable of repairing this kind of fault I intend to open up the cleaner to fix the problem. I have tried to find a service manual for the S4256 with no luck. I've tried various Google searches, searches on this site specifically and other sites too. So I am asking now, can anyone advise me on opening this model up to repair it? Has anyone any knowledge of where I can get a service manual to check the dissasembly and assembly procedure?

Most important of course, will I need any unsual tools?

I'd much rather fix this than see it go, it will only end up in landfill and it's a waste when it works so well in all other respects.

 

[vintagerepairer]

As I recall, all access is via the rear of the cleaner, and you remove 4 ordinary cross headed screws.

The rocker switch is a design which was unique to this cleaner, with a very larger rocker pedal and will be hard to source. However, again from memory, the hole in which it sits is a standard size so there should be no problem sitting an ordinary rocker switch in its place. The sort used on a Numatic should be fine.

 

[FireAngel]

Thank you!

It's a big help just knowing that there are four screws, since it lets me know whether I have actually found them all when I go digging. If a casing is stiff to open it can be a worry if you don't know how many screws you need to remove.

 

[vintagerepairer]

Well it's been years and years since I fixed one of these cleaners, so do please double check the number of screws! One thing I do recall is that they are not hard to take apart.

 

[turbomaster1984]

I have both versions of the powerglide, the cream and brown and the burgundy version. Very good cleaners despite being very budget ended. I used to take the burgundy one on house cleaning jobs where ~I just needed a cleaner to do hard floors.

If your stuggling top repair it, would it not just be better left switched on permanently and use the switch on the socket to turn it on and off?

 

[FireAngel]

Normal functioning of the switch has been achieved; hooray!

I found that there were six screws to remove to open the back end of the machine. Two were there to secure the small cover over the mains cable connector block, and this revealed two more at the top. There were also two more at the bottom of the case that needed removing. Once I was inside I was very puzzled, because this gave me no access to anything except the connections for the mains cable. The motor housing and exit for the fan was revealed, but there was no obvious way to open the cleaner any further. There was no separate cover over the switch, it looked as if I would need to get the top and bottom of the case apart, but it appeared to be glued or heat welded together, a very poor state of affairs.

OK, that was disappointing. I disconnected the mains cable as it was dirty and perhaps making poor contact, and then after several friuitless attempts to delve further inside and open up that switch I gave up and reassembled everything. It turned out that the poor mains connection was the sole cause of the problem, because the machine has worked perfectly ever since.