Faulty Kirby! Help needed

[matt8808]

I've owned my Sentria II since new and in about a months time it will be 3 years old.

About two months ago I noticed that when I turned the machine on the headlight flickered. I'd press the power switch and the light would flash on for a second, off for a second and then come back on and stay on.

I figured this was just the LED unit starting to fail and didn't take much notice of it.

Then a few weeks ago I turned the machine on one day, the headlight flickered and the motor sounded as if it was struggling to start. Almost as if it was starved of power.

I turned the machine off and grabbed my phone to video it, however when I turned the machine on again the fault was gone.

I gave the machine a good clean down, gave the cable a good wiggle about to check it wasn't an internal break inside the cable (cable has already been replaced under warranty once already about a year ago) and figured it was maybe dirt on the contacts of the switch as I could find no other signs of a fault. At this point even the headlight had stopped flickering on startup.

It has been my daily driver since then with no issues at all. Last weekend it was on for about 4 hours giving my grandparents a very thorough vacuuming and was then used to shampoo most of their carpets with absolutely no issues.

When I went back to their house the following day to vacuum the crystallised shampoo from their carpets I noticed on the initial startup that the headlight flickered slightly again. However for the rest of that vacuuming session when the machine was powered off and on again the headlight was perfectly fine.

Tonight I have gone to use the machine at home and prior to starting it up I put my phone on video mode.... so that if the headlight flickered at all I would have some sort of evidence to help with advice on what it would be....

This is was I was met with.




The machine is unusable.

It is assembled correctly before anybody suggests a safety switch isn't engaged. And as the machine and cable do not move during this video I'm thinking I can safely rule out the cable as the cause.


I'm thinking it needs a new power switch? As at one point in the video I press the switch nothing happens at all but the next time I try to power it on it does try to start?

There are no burning smells, motor turns freely ect

I'm thinking switch as this started as a very trivial fault of the headlight flickering slightly on startup and has now manifested into this.

IF it is just the switch I will be replacing it myself as although the machine has around a month of warranty left, I'm not too keen on our local Kirby dealer.... he nearly rounded off one of the screws when replacing the cable as he used the wrong sized screwdriver so I wouldn't be happy with them opening the machine up to do the switch... I'm happy to pay for a and fit a new switch myself (relatively simple job IMHO)... I just want to confirm it is the switch before ordering one.

So. Has anybody seen this before?


http://https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAfyPBLYoHw

 

[sptyks]

Matt,


I totally agree with you that it is the power/safety switch that is at fault. This is a fairly complex mechanism that is not easily replaced as it requires that the machine be almost completely disassembled to replace. As you can see from these instructions, that it is a fairly complex process:


 


http://www.goodvac.com/kb_results.asp?ID=18

 


Good Luck!


 


 

 

[wyaple]

Definitely the switch,

My Sentria II (2012) that I picked up from a thrift store in July 2016 had exactly the same problem. One power switch later and all was well. If you are good at working on vacuums, it will be simple. If you've never done such a thing, then I would have someone else replace the switch.

Bill

 

[kirbykid63]

Switch

Yes that model had a run of defective switches,kirby was using a new manufacture and they produced bad switches. They since fixed the problem but there are many sentria 2's with bad switches.

 

[matt8808]

Thanks for confirming guys.

I just wanted to be sure before I ordered a new switch.

I'm more than capable when it comes to replacing it.... I've previously replaced both front and rear motor bearings on a Diamond Edition. I think they are pretty easy to take apart and a pleasure to work on.

I'd rather do it myself and know it is done to a high standard than have it done under the last remaining month of warranty.

Had it been anything more major I'd of considered the warranty route but switches are pretty cheap. Can get a brand new genuine one for about £25