How do you remove the lower handle?

It sounds like a hose or water line has come loose.

Good Afternoon! This is a wonderful machine! Unfortunately, the pumps tend to go out. The pump not only releases the hot water to spray, it also controls the release of the cleaning fluid. Most likely you will need to replace the pump. There is an 800 number on the back at it's base. Serial and model numbers as well. You can test the unit to make sure this is the problem. Fill both the bladder and cleaning fluid resevoir and plug the unit in. Turn it on, release the handle and lower the handle to the floor while it's running. It is safe to do this and the brushes will stop rotating. You will see a hole (opening) in which the fluids normally flow. This hole SHOULD have suction when placing an object directly over the hole. Fingers flattened, a paper plate, anything that is twice the size of the opening and solid enough that it can not be sucked into the unit. If there IS suction, next test is to return the handle to the upright position till it clicks in place. Turn the knob selection from floor to tools. Squeeze the fluid release lever while aiming at a paper plate. See if it has sprayed fluid, then release the handle and try sucking up the fluid. If you again have no fluids released, you do need a pump. Check the age of the unit. Bissell has a 2 year Warrantee that usually covers most repairs and the 800 number will give you local repair shops. If you are out of warrantee, the pump can be ordered and installed through Sears for a reasonable price. Once you do this, YES, purchase their extended warrantee, it always pays off because the pumps go out a lot. But hey...they do a beautiful job cleaning! I hope this is helpful. By the way, if it doesn't pick up fluids, be sure to clean the unit thourally. Take pictures on a cell phone to double check how to put the parts back if you're afraid you won't remember OK?

You have an air leak. This is almost always caused by the lid not being correctly installed on the recovery tank. Remove the lid, hook it in the back, and snap the front latch in place. A less common problem is that the square duct on the front of the lower tank has been removed to use the attachment hose and not put back in the tank after use.

xpinto
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I wasted a lot of time following the expert advice to repair my unit by taking the cover off of the main unit and using compressed air to blow out the lines. The problem turned out to be in the lower panel of the handle (4 screws to remove). The heater is a large block of aluminum with a stainless cover held on by screws. The lower nozzle of the heater was blocked by water/soap reacting with the aluminum while in storage. Blowing out the lines as recommended with air compressor just warped the stainless cover resulting in time spent flattening this back into shape.

I would recommend the following steps:
1. Make sure that fluid levels are up in both the supply water bladder and the soap dispenser.
2. Pry off the left side access cover and ensure the pump drive belt is still in position. Switch the unit on and see that the pump is spinning.
3. With the unit plugged in and the handle laying flat on the floor (using the foot release lever) , remove the clear bezzel over the red impeller, switch the unit on, and pull the trigger for soap. Liquid stream should shoot straight up past the impeller. If not the lines are plugged somewhere.
4. Unplug the electric power. Remove the four screws and remove the lower handle access cover (with the red light in it).
5. All the fluid lines are clear plastic so you can identify which have fluid movement.
6. Disconnect the line from the soap activation switch (pliers on the squeeze hose clamp) feeding the heater (large aluminum block). Blow air (with your mouth NOT the air compressor) into this line and see if fluid movement is observed in the clear plastic lines. A little tentative about soap in your mouth, use a turkey baster filled with water). I saw no movement of liquid. Nozzle exiting the heater blocked.
7. Remove this hose and use a small drill bit to twist the debris loose. You may elect to remove the heater shinny cover for better access. Gaskets are reusable. Blow thru the hoses again to assure blockage cleared.
8. Button unit up.
9. With the clear bezel off and the red rotor exposed, plug unit in, soap and water supplies in place, switch on power and pull soap trigger. Should see vertical stream. Mine was about 5 inches initially then jumped to about 10 inches high. Knew blockage was cleared.
10. During shampoo operation if soap stops (red impeller stops spinning) first check fluid levels and fill. That doesn't work, I unscrewed the clear bezel and pulled the soap trigger with the unit switched on. Less than a second vertical stream appeared every time.
11. Now you know how to fix and achieve continuous operation.
12. The unit must be thorougly cleaned before putting it away for storage to prevent the reoccurance of the blockage in the heater. After following the manufacturer's instructions, by flushing (operating the unit) with clear water in the bladder and the soap dispenser, I did one final thing. By removing the fresh water storage/collection plastic container, a black round fitting is exposed that channels the water from the bladder into the spray system. I used a length of automotive heater hose that was the same diameter as the seal on this fitting (turkey baster with bulb off will work) and blew hard while the unit was switched on and the clear bezel was off. One last big blast of water spewed from the unit. This cleared all the lines from the bladder through the pump, switch, and heater and blows it out just prior to the spray nozzles.

This is long but specific.

Not so technical, take each step as presented.

Good luck.
Plano Tx

(1) Does water or chemical leak from the tank when filled, but before it is installed? If not, then the tank is OK.
(2) If the tank is not properly aligned to the lower handle when assembled and latched, the black rubber seals on the handle will not seal to the tank. You may wish to look at this. Also, make sure both round black rubber seals are present on the flat mount where the tank valves will sit.

Yes it does matter which cleaning solution that you use in your steam cleaner. If you use the wrong cleaning solution it may cause problems with the cleaning solution dispensary system. Different steam cleaners use different cleaning solutions. You should always use the steam cleaner solution for your specific cleaner. I have learned this the hard (and expensive) way.

Hard to recommend this but it will work in a pinch. You can use a small amount of liquid laundry detergent diluted with hot water (about 2 table spoons to a gallon) as a stand in for the real deal. DO NOT put the laundry soap solution into the cleaning solution reservoir (the wax content will clog the soap dispensary system). Lightly apply to the area to be shampooed (do not soak). I have used a plastic coffee can with holes poked in the lid like a watering can to apply the soap solution. Use the shampooer to do the scrubbing and remove soapy water from the shampooed area. Fill your soap reservoir with clean hot water. The laundry soap does most of its job during the rinse. Go over the shampooed area with the shampooer moderately soaking the shampooed area to with the hot rinse water. Remove as much of the rinse water as possible. Liquid laundry soap has a high wax content (makes your cloths soft) and if it is not rinsed thoroughly after it is dry the remaining wax will attract dirt faster than the surrounding areas. Other than that it works for a good stand in for the proper detergent in a pinch. As a bonus it smells great.

From what I understand as unorthodox as it is, it works well in small doses, and I don't believe that it causes any damage to the other parts of the steam cleaner as steam cleaners survive drawing up worse things into them than laundry soap.

I hope that you find this helpful

Good Luck!

Check that the switch is on autowash and not just on the rinse option. I see that customers do this alot.

remove hose take it outside and flush with TSP solution then rinse with water (garden hose) let dry. spackle dust and drywall dust are water soluble and will not hurt your grass.

My Bissell had the same problem. The hand attachment does not use heated water. So I Found a clog of calcium and dirt in the heater portion of the unit. The heater is in the handle behind the red heater light on the front. Remove the upper portion of the handle. Remove the lower two screws in the lower portion and the parts will split apart. Remove the hoses and remove the heater. (mark where the wires go) The bottom of the heater can be removed with a screwdriver. The tubes leading into the heater is where the clog was but there was a lot of debris inside Make sure to clear it all and the hoses as well. I put it together and it works great.

Most likely the opening under the seal has cracked or is starting to break away. You will have to replace the water bucket, the soap dispenser come with it, not separately.