It would be unusual for an indicator light to disable the vacuum as the power generally goes to both the components, which in this case is the motor, AND the indicator light. Thus they are usually hooked up in Parallel and not in Series: the power doesn't usually go THROUGH the indicator light and then to the motor.
What about the on off switch? Is the power getting to there and then past it when turned on? Switches do get oxidized and sometimes develop a non conductive layer. But this is usually something that occurs in low voltage environments. In higher power level such as this 120 VAC, the contacts are more likely to burn out from arcing. Usually they will become intermittent first and wiggling them around or turning things on and off several times may make it work sometimes. If so, then this is your culprit. Try bypassing all of the controls and indicators and put power straight to the motor. If this works then this obviously isn't your problem and you need to look elsewhere. Do you have a Volt/Ohm meter to trouble shoot with? Though unlikely, the indicator light may be at a lower voltage. So if the motor works with the power hooked directly to it, then bypass one thing at a time until you find the culprit
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A question: How did you get the canister apart? I can likely fix anything inside it once I have access to the guts, but so far I haven't been able to 'crack the Safe'. Any info in this regard would be appreciated.
Plus once I'm in there I'll be able to look at your problem as well and perhaps help you with this as well.
Regards,
DougRH
DougRH, July 2012
