A friend's Eureka Enviro-Vac was making a horrible racket recently.  I thought it might be something stuck flapping around the brush/beater roller, but yesterday he reported that the noise stopped and then the whole machine quickly followed.

I can't even find any identifiable way to open this thing up for examination.  I may have to take it to a repair shop, as he left town today for a brief trip and would have taken it to the shop if he was home.

Should I leave this to a pro or is there a way to get at the power plant without causing pieces of broken plastic to go flying?  I can't even see how to remove the brush roller for cleaning. 

Sorry, I took two shots of the machine with my iPhone and tilted one to try and trick the flawed browser algorithms that end up with sideways pictures here, but have given up on trying to correct the problem.

OK, rather than cause people to guess why I deleted the thread, I just went on line to check for an exploded view and came across a video for changing the belt.  That would at least give me a start.

The belt is toast.  It looks super beat up so was ready to snap and it finally did.  It could have easily been what was making the noise.  I'll see if I can go find one somewhere today.  He was really bummed that he couldn't vacuum before left town.  Yeah he's one of those people.

Found a local vacuum parts & repair store that had the belt.  The first place I called didn't have it and said it's on hopeless back order.  Amazon couldn't get it here until next week.  It's part number 61120, AKA a "type U."

I've not seen the arrangement that this machine uses for driving the brush roller before.   Instead of a groove on the roller, there's a raised section the belt rides on, and the drive post is a small horizontally mounted thing toward the rear.  OK, whatever.  You really have to stretch the belt, more than what I've experienced with older Eurekas, Hoovers, and the Kirby G4 that we had.  No wonder they snap.

Anyway, the machine is up and running, and while it seems beefy and capable, it's still louder than older ones.  Total cost for restoring proper operation:  $5 + tax.  He'll be thrilled, and I'll remind him that the best things in life are free, and that he owes me.   :-P