Tony Sade
09-21-2004, 8:20 AM
After removing a full dust bag from my 3 yr. old Turbo II, I reinstalled the (Sears Cleanstream) HEPA filter. I was out of bags and thought I'd be ok to run it until I could pick up some more. After only 10-15 minutes of use, the sound from the vac increased dramatically (louder, higher pitched, a bit of a whine) and the unit seemed to be running hotter than usual. I pulled off the top and found the filter sitting on the bottom in the accumulated dust. (Another one of my all-too-frequent "operator errors".
I called a Fein authorized repair place, and was given the standard "no user-serviceable parts" lecture, and told a new motor was probably required to the tune of $135-shipping not included. (A new Turbo II from Amazon is only $220 right now.) After convincing the tech I wasn't likely to fry myself, he mentioned the only option was to tear it down and blow out all the dust, and to remove the brushes and blow those out as well. I did all that out in my driveway, although I couldn't figure out how to remove the brushes, which appear to be pressed in. Put it all back together and no change. Still sucks as well as ever, but the increased sound and heat have me worried that the thing is about to blow.
Anyone have any experience repairing one of these, or suggestions for other things I could try? Would removing and blowing out the brushes and their receptacles likely have made a difference? Is the short running time without the filter (stongly discouraged in the manual) even likely the cause, or merely coincidence? A new motor doesn't seem to make sense at the quoted price. The repair tech told me there was less than a 50-50 chance he could repair it given the symptoms, and I'd be out the $35 repair fee plus shipping.
Give me some hope here, folks! :o Thanks,
I called a Fein authorized repair place, and was given the standard "no user-serviceable parts" lecture, and told a new motor was probably required to the tune of $135-shipping not included. (A new Turbo II from Amazon is only $220 right now.) After convincing the tech I wasn't likely to fry myself, he mentioned the only option was to tear it down and blow out all the dust, and to remove the brushes and blow those out as well. I did all that out in my driveway, although I couldn't figure out how to remove the brushes, which appear to be pressed in. Put it all back together and no change. Still sucks as well as ever, but the increased sound and heat have me worried that the thing is about to blow.
Anyone have any experience repairing one of these, or suggestions for other things I could try? Would removing and blowing out the brushes and their receptacles likely have made a difference? Is the short running time without the filter (stongly discouraged in the manual) even likely the cause, or merely coincidence? A new motor doesn't seem to make sense at the quoted price. The repair tech told me there was less than a 50-50 chance he could repair it given the symptoms, and I'd be out the $35 repair fee plus shipping.
Give me some hope here, folks! :o Thanks,