Is this Electrolux too far gone to Save?

[shag]

Too far gone?

I took a bent clothes hanger to the hose and knocked out some wood fibers? The black grit almost looks like the stuff on shingles.
I ended up cutting my finger so I moved on to using the shop vac.

 

[shag]

Too far gone?

I tried the shop vac on both ends, nothing

 

[shag]

Too far gone?

I cleaned out the powerhead and it had the same wood fibers and fur in it. I didn't know these vacs still had a blower port.
I was looking at the back, found it on the top. Tried blasting the hose that way, no dice.
Whatever Satan sucked up and jammed the hose with, I can't get it out.

 

[elux89]

Hand grip comes off

The hand grip does comes off so you can push a pipe/broom handle through. Remove the two screws, just be careful where the electrical contact (female end) is, as it snaps into the handle and if you're not careful, you could break it upon removal. The hand grip is actually two pieces, the bottom part where the air breather screw valve is and electrical contact, and the top part

 

[aeoliandave]

Hose: you could try easing a long broom handle or length of quarter round down the hose, while spinning it to dislodge any more chips - a coat hanger is more likely to dislodge more of the rubber liner. From the condition of the hose weave 'veins' It wouldn't surprise me that the hose was stepped on and this caused a coil or two to bend down into the airstream, trapping things. These hoses are notorious for drying out, cracking inside and shedding the black rubber liner - these is the 'ashphalt' fragments that are falling out. Remove the handle and lay the hose out straight (weight it down with books & boards between two 2x4s if it refuses the lay straight) on a table with a lightbulb shining through one end - you should be able to sight down the hose interior to locate where the clog- causing deformation is. It may not be latex-able because of this but it's worth a try if we ever manage a time to meet up sometime this summer. (hint).

Nice to see the hose is the Blue one!

Bag Door hinge gap:

From your pictures the gap when the door is latched closed is too far apart. Should be no greater than 1/8". Possibly the hinges are deformed or one side is broken off or...only you can see this in detail. It may be as simple as the screws holding the two door halves together have loosened. The will be a fix for this or you can replace the inner door panel with the hinge from a donor vac. It may be the hinge mount points on the frame inside.

Next picture I will discuss the lock-out switch...

 

[aeoliandave]

Hooray on the PN !!! One more puzzlement solved.

Lock-out switch.

is tucked into one corner surrounded by the rubber sealing gasket. It has a strong spring that will lift the cardboard corner off the gasket.

There is a corresponding 1/4" raised 'L' shaped tab on the bag door that presses the cardboard corner to the switch head.

You could build up this tab with a Felt-tac button or somesuch to engage this switch positively but it would be best to correct the bag door clearance gap first. Running suction will seat the bag cardboard tight against the gasket, of course but that large gap could allow the bag to rotate out of 'square' when closing the door and then you'd get leakage around the edges of all 4 sides.

There's got to be a way to get that hinge or mount adjusted to pull the door closer to the bag compartment opening...and I know you'll find it, Brian. Gonna take my System 90 door off tonight and have a look-see. You've gotten me curious and I need to put a new cord on the cordwinder anyway to get mine running.

Dave

 

[vacman117]

clogs

what i like to do is take a shopvac or a kirby with the "exhaust" and blow the hose it. It often works for me when the handle is curved and you cannot get a broom handle in there.
Chase

 

[aeoliandave]

Taking the Ambassador/System 90 apart

Do not try to pry off the Motor Cap first! It is held in place with 4 internal posts and must be remove cleanly after the two body halves are separated. Quite often 'service' guys break the posts trying to remove it first. Like mine are! :-(
You can see in one of the following pictures how easy it will be to close up those cracks but they do not affect the vacuums operation or performance at all - just another exhaust vent. LOL

Now, how to get inside the Vacuum shell...

Remove the 4 screws holding the bag door together and set aside the outer half.

Lift up the end of the rubber side strips and they will peel off on the white plastic side locking strips. With a bit of jiggling the white side strips will slide forward and off.

Now use a flat blade screwdriver and your fingers to separate the bottom shell half from the cordwinder/motor/bag cage still 'attached to the upper shell. Note that there are two shallow tabs at the bottom of the cage that fit visible slots in the bottom shell rim between the main hinges. The center fat hinge merely carries two wires to the intake for the hose and a vinyl tube to trigger the Bag Full circuit mechanism.

From another one of the following pictures you can see that the broken off section of your bottom shell has location spots to capture the hinge. One of yours is missing now creating that door gap but that's not a total disaster.

Now you can remove the cordwinder and replace the cord...Oh Wait...

Ok, so if your door closes and the vacuum runs there may be no need to take the whole consarned thing apart until we find a donor shell. The gray/white parts color is probably standard and your blue parts are in perfect shape. I have every confidence another of this style Electrolux will turn up soon...remember, Stratford's Free Treasure Hunt Junk day is May 28th weekend and I'll keep my eyes open...

 

[aeoliandave]

Motor cap posts and tabs. My posts are broken off so I will likely use velcro to hold the cap on now. Screws and bolts through the shell would be so ugly.

 

[aeoliandave]

The halves separated.

 

[aeoliandave]

Closeup of the hinge components.

 

[elux89]

Motor 6500-200

Dave,
Does your System 90 have motor model 6500-200?? the bracket that holds the commutator is probably the same color as the top trim of you system 90??, as compared to being black. Those motors were kinda funny, some lasted a long time, others had a short lived life span.

Vernon

 

[aeoliandave]

Vernon, mine has this Lamb motor with the numeral 29 on the metal bracket casting. I can't find any other identification on it.

Dave

 

[elux89]

Lamb motor = replacement motor

Dave,

Whomever had the unit before you, replaced the motor. Kinda what I thought from that series. The Lamb 116311 seems to be a common replacement for luxes. I think the lamb model # is usually on the fan casing (scratches head as he hasn't seen a lamb for a while) just like the lux

 

[aeoliandave]

Cool info!

It runs fine but naturally I haven't been able to subject it to the water lift test yet. There's a few Spa Days to get through first.

I do hope Brian's Ambassador can be revived - I like Blue.

Dave

 

[shag]

Too far gone?

I tried to take the handle off the hose, wouldn't come off.
Next I tried the broom handle thing and found where the clog was.

 

[shag]

Too far gone?

I tried putting the hose on the port, still no air coming out.
Tried it on the vacuum, a big slurp and it started to suck in air!
Quite a nasty clog.

 

[shag]

I will put it all back together tomorrow. I think the vacuum just needs a hinge and it will be fine, but the hose is toast.
I noticed all day it kept get more bulges in it and there are some weak spots. I think that black stuff coming out is the inside of the hose. I probably didn't help things any with all the digging I did to it.
Dave, if you have an extra hose you would like to sell,I'm interested. Thanks for everyone's help.

 

[shag]

The Ambassador.

Here it is after being sterilized, sanitized and disinfected.
I like this vacuum a lot. Very quiet, the suction could be better because of the condition of the hose, powerhead works great. To start it you have to hold the front in first to make contact and then away it goes, never stops or stalls.

 

[shag]

The Ambassador.

I am amazed at how big the powerhead is, same as the Kirby.