DC01 Absolute+ - Repair, Stripdown and Refurb

[beko1987]

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A while ago, I spied a nice DC01 Absolute+ on facebook for a tenner. Picked it up after work one day ages ago







Which had a mint wand!

But a grey cable and the brushroll housing looks REALLY odd with no writing on it





All quite nice, and I've started collecting DC01's now by accident. At the very least, it's the best DC01 AB+ I own at this present moment in time!

Until yesterday



Where I got this little thing for £10, the bloke mentioning that he doesnt think it works (had 2 of those this weekend, the other one is for another thread though...)

Highlights include:



Another mint wand



With OK Sticker on



Minty cyclone stickers



Mint cleanerhead sticker



Mint HEPA flap



Not so mint filter





AND a mint brushroll housing logo and sticker



Even a mint bumper



It was even made on the same day as the other one!



Even the brushroll and baseplate are good, with the rubber spring present and correct



Another bonus is all the tools!



The crevice tool is a bit triangular, but I have another one of those



So, the plan:

Take minty wand off the logo-less 01, and replace with a faded one I have in the shed. Put minty wand up in the loft for Another Day.
Refurb logo-less 01, and wash the filter.
Sell Logo-less 01 for hopefully £30-£35 and test the market for DC01's. This will then pay for the new one with change left over.
Refurb the Logo'd 01
Add it to the collection!

But, and this is a setback, the logo'd one DOES NOT WORK! It didn't have a fuse in it at first, so I fitted a working one and nothing. Have not progressed further yet, but the next port of call is:

Test the cable
Test the switch
Try a known working cable bypassing the switch if either of those are at fault
Look at the motor, but the machine shows no signs of being on fire, doesnt smell, the filter is actually fairly clean considering its probable age, so I'm hoping it will be easy. Once fixed, I'll turn this into a refurb thread as the machine deserves it, it's also NOT FADED!

Either way, I am one step closer to the full DC01 set. Even if it is the motor I do have a spare, so it's not all lost!

[Parwaz7862]

That's one of the best DC01's I have seen in ages!

[beko1987]

It is unusually clean! Hope there's not a catch somewhere...

[Parwaz7862]

There shouldn't be as it's a lovely DC01!

[Parwaz7862]

It even has a halo on the top of the wand

[Dyson2000]

God you are so lucky. what a score. 

[beko1987]

Had a look earlier and had a go at fixage



I got the multimeter out and had a go, and nothing. I then had a thought



Aha!

Choppy choppy



This seems to happen alot on 01s and 04s (where the doughnut is fitted), and mainly on the purple cables...



Re-trimmed, new crimp, fitty fitty and...

What do we think?

[beko1987]

No-one? Fine, no one wins my DC50...

Of course it does! Feck all suction but the filters are ruined and it's filthy everywhere. Grooms well though!

Has gone back in the shed though cos it fecking stinks. Rebuild thread to appear in due course, got a few other machines to get in first! Including another 01 Absolute+... May not do a thread on that though, will stick to this one.

[Madrat]

I had one the other day like that DC14, when I got it running, the smell was 

[beko1987]

Luckily amys out shopping!

[Parwaz7862]

 :censored:I love how everything was coloured, even the cable and plug, now the whole machines are grey with a coloured cyclone and pointless highlighting the buttons red?!

PS, the smell, everytime I hadn a DC04 from the carboot sale, ironically green ones, when first switched on they smell of coffee, like a disgusting type, coffee mixed with something ugly, ew

[MVacs]

I had one the other day like that DC14, when I got it running, the smell was 

We had two in for service this week that stank the place out. They have parrots, dogs and cats. I was ready to send them back as a "no can do" as they absolutely honked. Cyclones clogged up with parrot crap. 

But the guys were like, "You win some, you lose some", and started steam cleaning the cyclones with a Jeyes fluid/TFR mix. Fair play to them, I was ready to pay for a Hermes and charge the customer £0 just to get them out they were so bad. I've never knocked a machine back yet, but these were rank.

[beko1987]

The dirty smelly ones always come up the cleanest I find... The dirt protects the plastics...

I'll strip and wash it up when Amys not here, that'll be a good idea... Will sack the release valves off too, they suck much better without them!

[Parwaz7862]

I had a dirty DC14 Allergy, uno the silver one with purple buttons, that was so messed up there was some yellow stains, doubt it was p!ss but thought it might of been,but it was hard to wash off, like it was part of the plastic, the silver cyclones were white and the soleplate had enough dirt in to half fill up a Dyson handheld, was ugly and horrible, novelty wore off it, it was that ugly. Got a DC14 blitz it later and loved it, my Aunty has it now, 2 years later it works well

[beko1987]

I had this out of the shed on the last day of my paternity leave, and decided it was an 'outside' stripdown



Plus I was worried that something would fall over in the shed and break the mint wand







Release button released



Tools next



I found a less bent crevice tool, and put the odd shaped one in the shed for a rainy day



The upholstery tool has good litter pickers on too



Dusting brush was suitably smeggy



Onto the machine now, cyclone off



Filter flap is in good condition



but filthy



Pre filter housing was a little worse for wear, the foam seal coming off in places



Ancient filter removed



Wiring cover unscrewed



Ooops, caught the neutral wire when fixing the cable the first time it seems



Neutral apart



Wire clamps removed



Switch out



Mains cable off. I had to remove the spade terminal I fitted though to get it through the hole



The terminal cover on the chassis wire has to come off to fit through the hole





Push it through



and that is done for now



The cyclone-chassis seal comes out now



Time for some underneath action



2 out of 3 baseplate screws had come out of their retaining washers but amazingly the washers were still present



The underside was greasy as  , never seen one as greasy and mucky as this tbh



Baseplate split



Don't think I've seen one saying 'front' before, although have never looked until now tbh



Gopping soleplate seal removed



Brushroll now



split





Bumper off



One of the glamour caps removed from a wheel



Circlip underneath removed, wheen ald washer taken off, axle pulled through by the other wheel, a quick tap onto the table to pop the other glamour cap off, wheel and washer on the other side removed and



Brushroll housing popped up on the small pivot side



angled to full flop



and lifted off



Recline spring assembly removed



and split



Brushroll housing floating bracket removed



The remains were perched on the edge of the table now



and the lower motor housing unscrewed



Plaster dust...



Rubber flaps removed



rubber seals removed



To get the motor out, we need to look down here



unplug the L and N



and remove this screw



The motor and TOC lift out



Motor rubbers and support bracket fall off



The motor fan was very dirty, so I got a big flatblade screwdriver, a hammer and a lawn



You want to either grow another arm, or hold the screwdriver against the lip of the fan case as so, then pivot the motor back slightly and hit the screwdriver with a hammer. You can see that it cracks the cover off slightly. The lawn absorbs the shock and enables the fan cover to move down into it slightly, if you were on a hard surface you could dent the fan cover



Repeat this a few times in different places and



The 3 fans come off as so, and are laid out in order of assembly



I nearly looked at stripping it down more but the motor is very clean, and I didnt want to move anything out of alignment and buggar it up, so left it be



The 2 fans have different notches taken out of the side. The bottom fan has the smaller one, the outer one has the 2 larger ones



Back to the machine. Wand seal out



6 more screws seperate the top motor cover from the chassis





Seals off



The chassis is now as naked as it will get (never been able to get the switch cover out, and the big seal is bonded to the plastic)



The grease has caught some stones in it. The spinal cord pulls out as well, and the little seal is removed from it



Pivot seal out



The main machine is apart!



Time for the dirty bit now!



The bottom of the bin was a bit minging



the inner part wasnt much better



Seals off



Cyclone top now



The release valves have to come out first



They pull out, but make sure you pull from one side so they flip out







There is a screw at the top



Once removed, hold the top handle very firmly, and bend the cone down until it cracks out of the housing





Now normally, I give the top part of the cyclone that is a tight fit in the housing a few hard smacks with a hammer and something blunt, and out it pops. This time however, it popped the release valve housing out...



Never had that before, but have heard Mvacs say they do it as routine, so I'm sure it can be fixed.

Either way, the pesky cyclone top is out



Bin seal out



Cone and shroud seperated



All the screws



Because it was particularly greasy, I soaked it all (bar the cyclone top to stop the stickers peeling off) and chassis as it's massive in hot water and washing powder for a few hours, which bought it all up very clean indeed and made it much easier to wash!



Pic taken from inside as I forgot to take a picture

Everything was washed, dried and polished. Then the usual



Cyclone cone and shroud were reassembled





bin seal refitted



Cyclone top seal refitted



and screwed in



I then went into the shed for my tube of sealer to refit the release valve housing, but it had gone hard (funny story about that, I pumped it, nothing. Cleaned out the nozzle, pumped it some more (one of those ones with the built in handle, not a cartridge and gun type job) and nothing. Took the nozzle off, poked it with the wheel axle and pop, sealer shot out everywhere...it would not stop, I hurried outside, getting none on the laminate or my hands, and just put it on the patio, where it carried on shooting out for 5 minutes, still there now but it's dry so I can peel it off, now I need more sealer), so used qbond



which did work, but calamity, it ran round the front and started sticking to the rug



 

Luckily, it came off with wire wool and some time, and just needs a hit with the rotary to erase all clues of my issue... cone and shroud fitted



I cleaned up the relief valves



and refitted them for now, will tape it all up I think in the future, it improves the suction!



Lower cone now





Onto the machine



Pivot seal refitted



spinal cord fitted



Chassis seals fitted



Spinal cord pushed through and the chassis mated up to the top motor cover



Wand seal fitted



The motor was put back together after soaking the fans in the box of very hot water with the rest of the machine, then a good rinse



Seals and holder fitted



Motor refitted, wires screwed down, plugged in and routed



Seals fitted to the lower motor cover



flaps fitted



Motor re-enclosed



locking assembly reassembled and fitted



Brushroll housing fitted



Wheels fitted



Bumper fitted. I peeled off the non sticky tape, need to get a roll of double sided tape at some point for this and the other DC01s, but it holds ok



Brushroll and a new belt fitted



Baseplate seal fitted



Baseplate fitted



The top seal, switch and cable was fitted and covered up



I was given a new, genuine HEPA filter which I have been saving for this, so fitted that





filter flap fitted



I dug out a much better pre filter housing



with tidier seals and a new filter fitted







I got the hose out of the airing cupboard where it has been for months, and fitted that and the wand, and wound the cord up. Then I noticed the plug is missing the fuse holder, must get one of those some day



Done!



The next day after work I ran it over the mat by the door and the big rug, and pulled a surprising amount of crap out, and confirmed that the release valve housing is nicely sealed up



I still need to polish it up and wax it, but have been using it for the past few days, so will use it a bit more, clean it back up again and post some proper afters!

Only 2 more DC01's to get now!