Alright folks, today was one of those mornings where my trusty Bona floor machine decided to act up. Ugh. Started it up like always, and instead of leaving my floors shiny, it kinda just smeared dirt around. Puddle trails, you know? Like it forgot how to actually clean. Time for some tinkering.

Step 1: Did I Break the Water Tank?

First thing I checked? That dang water reservoir. I always forget sometimes. Yanked it out – yep, bone dry. Refilled it with fresh water and Bona cleaner, slapped it back in snug. Ran the machine again. Same lousy streaks. Okay, deeper issues.

Step 2: Taking The Head Apart (The Gross Part)

Powered down and unplugged it, flipped the head over. Grabbed my screwdriver and popped the cover off where the spray nozzle and cleaning pad attach. Whoa, grit city! Tiny bits of dirt and lint were clogging up the spray nozzle holes.

• Took the nozzle plate off.
• Poked every single tiny hole with an old toothpick – real careful like.
• Rinsed the plate under warm water until it flowed clear.
• Wiped down the rubber seals where it fits back on.

Put it all back together, figuring that had to be it. Nope. Still barely spraying and leaving streaks. Frustration setting in!

Step 3: Uh Oh, The Belt Felt Loose

Remembered the manual mentioned the belt driving the brush roller. Popped the pad holder off again. Gave the brush roller a little wiggle. Spinny, but it felt… lazy. Like it didn’t have the usual zip. Peered underneath at the belt.

• Pushed down on the brush roller gently – more slack than I remembered.
• Looked at the belt itself. Didn’t see cracks, but it looked stretched out and kinda shiny in places.

Figured it was cheap to replace. Had an extra belt tucked away with the machine stuff. Fumbled a bit getting the old belt off.

• Slipped the old belt off the motor pulley and the roller pulley.
• Stretched the new belt back on – took a bit of muscle, gotta hook it over the roller pulley first.
• Double-checked it sat straight on both pulleys.

Okay, put the pad holder back on. Fingers crossed this time.

Step 4: Nasty Surprise Under The Hood

Started it up. Hear that? A nasty grinding noise, worse than before! Powered down FAST. Rolled the head over again, took the pad holder off. What the…? Hair! So much hair and thread tangled tight around the ends of the brush roller. Like a damn mouse nest.

• Grabbed a sturdy pair of scissors and some needle-nose pliers.
• Started snipping the big loops.
• Used the pliers to yank out the rest bit by bit – slow going, didn’t wanna scratch anything.
• Scraped off hard gunk with an old plastic card.

Cleaned off the roller as good as I could. Slapped everything back together one more time.

Final Test (And Some Hope!)

Added a fresh cleaning pad. Refilled the tank again, just in case. Held my breath and fired it up.

Sweet relief! It sprayed nice and even, the brush roller spun like crazy, and it actually sucked up the dirty water instead of dragging it around. Ran a small test patch. Left it clean and practically dry. HUH. So that tangled brush roller was basically killing the suction AND the spinning power.

Fixed it! Whole thing took maybe 25 minutes total, once I stopped fussing around. Lesson learned: Check the darn roller before I swap belts! Hope this helps someone else dodge a few headaches. Machine’s humming along pretty good now. Don’t call me an expert, but heck, it works again. So far so good.