Cord needs to be rewired in the retractable reel on a Kenmor 7100

You did not say which model of vacuum you have. Cord reels are a great feature on a vacuum, when they are working properly. If your cord goes bad or the cord reel isn't working correctly it may need to be replaced.

With all that's involved in replacing the cord and potential cord reel damage, it's more cost effective to just have the entire cord reel, complete with new cord, replaced. Less time consuming thus less costly to you. Hope it helps!

This is a common Kenmore problem. The cord may have kinked inside the cord reel, You can remove the top by taking the screws out some are hidden under the switch. If the cord gets too close to the edge of the reel it can bind. Do be careful as the spring in the cord reel can jump out and it hurts. I would take it to a dealer.

If you are having problems with a NIlfisk King cord reel it will either be that the cord is simply dislodged or the retract could be faulty. I have made a video showing how to pull it apart which could be used as a reference to diagnose the issue.
If you need a new retract we have these available online as well, the part number is 22352606 Nilfisk King Cord Rewind

I had the same problem with my Hoover s3639. The cord rewinder started squeaking, and retracted less and less of the cord each time, until it finally stopped retracting the cord at all. Here is what I did. I hope it will work for you as well. Open the covered tool storage and remove the tools. You should see three screws. Unscrew the screws. Remove the cover. You should see the motor for the vacuum and the cord rewinder. Between the vacuum motor and the white wheel where the cord is, you should see two brass wheels that turn into each other in order to operate the cord rewinder. Spray a small amount WD-40 between the two brass wheels. This should solve your problem.

Replace the cord reel

Wasn't able to find any diagrams either, but there should be some screws to take out, and the top and bottom should separate. Don't let the cord reel spring unwind if it hasn't already done so. If it hasn't, one half of the reel should come aprt so you can re-attach the cord. then put the reel back together and let it wind the cord on the reel. If the spring is unwound and/or the reel wasn't made to come apart, then you will have to replace the cord reel asm.

GET TO THE REEL AS FOLLOWS:

(BEFORE YOU START, BE SURE TO UNPLUG THE DIMENSION FROM THE OUTLET)

1). TURN VACUUM OVER AND USE A FLAT-BLADE SCREWDRIVER TO WEDGE/SLIDE THE WHEELS OFF (PUT THE SCREWDRIVER BLADE BETWEEN THE LITTLE BLACK WHEEL BRACKET PIECE AND THE GREY CHASSIS OF THE VACUUM AND SLIDE/WIGGLE THE WHEELS OFF);

2). THE 2 DEEP HOLES AT THE TOP OF EACH WHEEL RECESS LEAD TO 1-1/2" LONG PHILLIPS SCREWS >> UNSCREW THEM;

3). AFTER REMOVING ALL 4 SCREWS, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO EASILY LIFT OFF THE TOP OF THE REEL/MOTOR COMPARTMENT.

4). CAREFULLY LIFT AND ROTATE THE CONTROL PANEL TO THE SIDE.

5). THE REEL IS NOW IN PLAIN SIGHT.

6). I’M STILL TRYING TO FIGURE-OUT HOW TO SAFELY ACCESS THE GUTS OF THE REEL MYSELF. I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH INTERMITTENT VACUUM POWER AND ALSO WITH WEAK CORD RETRACTION.


ANYWAY, GOOD LUCK TO YOU !!!

Mine was a simple fix. Hope yours is too.

You need to take the unit apart to get to the cord reel. If you don't know how to take your unit apart, here are some instructions on how to take apart most of the Miele canister units.

http://www.sannerud.com/house/miele.html

Once it is apart, you will need to take out the cord reel. There is a small rubber hose which needs to be removed on the outermost part of the reel. Then there is one small silver screw that you must remove as well. One these two items have been removed, carefully lift the entire cord reel assembly upwards. When you are doing this, ensure that you are also lifting the black and white wiring along with the reel - just make sure that you're not yanking it and possibly breaking the connectors off. As you lift the entire reel assembly out, you can also remove the white wiring harness which connects to the main switches on the vacuum.

Now, here is the trickiest part - not really that tricky if you are good with your hands.

First, make sure that the cord is retracted fully. Then, start pulling the white plastic cord reel away from the black plastic assembly about 1 inch or so. Between the black assembly and the white reel, you'll notice a copper-like metal spring which is attached to the white reel. Make sure that as you are removing the white reel further, that you are maintaining visibility with the copper-like spring. DO NOT LET THE SPRING OUT OF ITS OWN WHITE REEL (the spring has its own reel which is difficult to wind up again, so be very careful!).

Make sure that the spring is fully retracted at this time. If it is not, wind the reel so that the spring is not wound up anymore around the white reel. Carefully slip the spring out of the white reel and leave the spring as-is ensuring that it does not unwind itself out of its own reel.

Now that you have the white reel off the black assembly, inspect the inside of the inner part of the white reel. You'll see two copper rings with 'wings' on them. These wings transfer power to the vacuum. There may be some grease (black) which you should wipe off with a paper towel. Also wipe the metal rings on the black assembly which touch these 'wings'. (the wings touch the metal rings to send constant power to the motor. The wings are there so that as you wind and unwind the power cord from the vacuum, there is always constant contact with the metal rings on the black assembly.

Now, carefully pull the wings up and out. If you can picture it in your head, what you're doing is ensuring that there is a good contact between the copper wings and the metal rings on the black assembly. Do this for all 4 wings on both the inner and outer copper rings within the white reel. Make sure that the 4 pads are clean and grease/dirt free.

Once you've done this, it's time to put the white reel back on the black assembly. Do everything you did earlier, but in reverse.

Carefully take the copper spring and align it to the white reel - you'll see a specific slot where the spring slides and grabs onto on the white reel. You'll probably have to place the white reel slightly onto the black assembly rod in order to achieve this - again, you must be good with your hands to do this without breaking anything.

Once the copper spring is attached to the white reel, press the rest of the white reel onto the black assembly. HINT: turn the white reel slightly so that you're applying some tension on the spring - this will make sure that the spring doesn't fall out of the white reel.

Reassemble the cord reel assembly (black and white parts) back into the vacuum. Make sure that the black and white power cables are out of the way. Once seated, wrap the black and white cables around the assembly and reseat the white wiring harness. Reapply the black rubber tube to the cord reel assembly and replace the silver screw to hold the entire harness down.

Close the vacuum casing, replace the control panel (power and cord buttons). Close the unit, plug it in, and power it on!

If it worked for you, congrats! If it didn't, sorry, you've got a much bigger problem with your unit.

The trim pieces along the sides just pull off seperating the two housings. The back portion where the retract drum is is held by two plastic tangs on top inside. use a screwdriver to pry the ring down to dislodge the tangs. the bottom part will lift off. remove the front part using two screws just below the hinge. the retract has a long coil spring wound around a free spinning hub. there are two "tangs" inside that engage a ratchet-pawl assembly. you'll need to rotate the drum to rewind the spring onto its hub.