How do I get at the motor of this Eureka?

[seijun]

I need to get inside this Eureka to find out why it smells like a trash fire whenever I turn it on, but I can't see any obvious ways of dissembling it. Ideas?

 

[lesinutah]

Hey

The carpet height dial comes off. The underside of the vacuum is a bunch of springs. Those springs hold most of body down. I got nothing more than that.
Les

 

[seijun]

Awesome, that worked a charm, thank you!

There are three springs but only two need to be removed.

 

[superocd]

Now that you have the hood off...

It's time to track the source of the smell. Does it smell like burning electrical, plastic, oil or rubber in combination to the usual vacuum smell or does it just smell bad? Usually when there is an issue with the motor you'll have odd sounds in conjunction with a burning smell. It could be something as simple as a worn pulley in that case, or maybe worn brushes or a bad commutator.

If it's not a smell caused by a malfunctioning motor, I'd just strip the machine down and clean it. The motor is very easily removed from the base, the only caveat is that you'll need to get a new motor gasket (which is less than $5), you'll have the best results searching for a motor gasket for a traditional Sanitaire commercial upright since a Sanitaire is basically the same machine. You probably could use a silicone sealant since it works well on a Kirby, so it could work on Eureka/Sanitaire machines as well.

You could wash and sanitize the base and bag after evacuating as much dust as possible with a vacuum or air compressor. I have washed cloth bags in my front load washer (using Persil liquid) with success, I am not sure about top loaders. Hand washing is a must of the bag is vinyl though. For the motor, you could use an air compressor or shop vac to clean most of the dust, while swabbing it down with a (slightly) damp cloth with a cleaning solution. Alcohol wipes work the best, that's what I have used to clean my motors. You won't be able to fully clean a motor, but it is possible to get it as close to clean as possible. I would take the fan off and clean behind the fan as well, since dirt and grime tend to build up behind there (this would be a good time to replace the fan if need be). Do all of that and the smell should be gone. All of my restored machines (three, soon to be four Kirbys, a Royal and a Hoover) have no lingering smells. I would imagine that it would be a LOT harder to remove malodors from a bypass machine than from a simple direct-air machine.

 

[seijun]

It smelled like burning hair last I remember. The motor, I could hear it struggling and winding down, trying to rev back up, and winding down again. At that point I just tossed it into the garage for a few months. When I got it open there was a LOT of dust inside and a lot of hair wrapped around both ends of the brushroll belt. I cleaned it all out and put it back together. I ran it again just now but after a few seconds I can hear the motor grinding down and it smells strongly of burning debris.

 

[kirbyklekter]

Have you checked your carbon brushes?

That would be my guess. Any bearing noises,howling? There may be a bunch of crud under the fan, but I'm thinking carbon brushes. I'd look at the springs that hold the brushes against the armature also.

 

[lesinutah]

Hey

I was thinking carbon brushes too. There isn't much else it could be. The carbon brushes have a spring on them. They are attached to the housing with screws. So when you take out carbon brushes we weary of a possible flying spring the small screw could jump too. It's fairly easy once you know to look for spring and screw. There is no way motor is bad most likely carbon brushes.
Les

 

[seijun]

Alright, I will see what I can do. I have never tried to replace carbon brushes on a vacuum cleaner before.