my bissell powersteamer won't roll forward, any suggestions?

[homeowners]

I think the culprit here is a part of the body of the vac. I just happen to own a Clearview version of the Bissell Powersteamer which makes it a little more apparent. Check out the crude illustration I put together, attached below.

The leading edge of the vac is formed by the lower part of the front cover, or hood as it were. When you push the vac forward, if the hood sits lower than it's supposed to, it would bury itself right into the carpet's pile and will get stuck. Especially on a a higher pile carpet. It is just at the right forward facing angle to do that on the way forward and will slide easily over the carpet's pile on the way back.  The water/dirts gets sucked into the vac exactly between the hood and the body below it, they form a thin wide channel for the air that gets sucked in. If the hood is out of alignment (again, sits lower than it's supposed to), it would not form a proper seal against the rubber gasket on the body and there will be no suction.

There are just two screws holding the hood (see the picture, click on "Original" to see full size) at the front and little plastic latches, one on the back and two on the sides of the front. If you were cleaning the channel (as I have to do after every use because of my two dogs with long hair), took the screws off and then didn't put them back properly, the hood would still click into place but it would not yet sit in its exact position until the screws are tightened. Really bad design if you ask me.

Alternatively, I can see that if the vac was banged against a wall or another obstacle really hard, the plastic around the screws would break and now nothing is really holding the hood tight, it might even be just laying ontop of the body, only held by the fickle plastic notches.

See if you can drag your vac on the floor (don't even have to plug it in) and watch what happens with its leading edge. If if gets buried in the carpet pile, I bet your front cover (a.k.a. hood) is off. May need to re-install it to align it better or may need a new hood if the current one has cracked around the screws.

I would love it you post an update on the issue once you've found the culprit!

[Margaret]

My bissell powersteamer won't roll forward. Seems like it is locked up when you try to push it forward. If you force it a little, the covers pops out of place on the bottom. It rolls backwards just fine and the roller underneath is turning. I checked the belts and they were fine. It also does not seem like it is sucking up the water like it was before, but it release the water just fine. Any suggestions on what I could check?

[Anonymous]

I am having a similar issue. Similar model, but with 6 cleaning rows on the brush. The face shield is picky about alignment as you noted, but even when I have it in the best position it seems to be dragging and not sucking up as much water ALSO while the brush does turn, it does not seem to be touching the floor.