Roborock S5 Disassembly for Cleaning, Troubleshooting and Repair

This is my attempt to provide a methodical procedure to disassemble the S5 Roborock Vacuum Cleaner for repair or maintenance purposes. These Machines are no longer manufactured and your warranty has probably long since expired. Parts are still readily available on AliExpress and Ebay so it makes sense to keep these machines going. I became interested in these machines a few months ago after my wife's "Andrew" was carelessly sent into the kid's bedroom where he knocked over a glass of water and then proceeded to run through it. Andrew consistently threw out an error 13 code which is a disconnect in the fan circuit. I got the opportunity to tear into Andrew and this opened a new world to me. I was amazed by the engineering that went into building this machine. I was initially overwhelmed by its complexity. I ordered a new fan and I also picked up an S5 sold for parts on Ebay for good measure. I was able to fix both machines.

Supplies

Three Phillips screw drivers of various sizes from #2 on down towards the smallish end. Make sure the screwdrivers fit well in the screw heads so you don't round the head out. It's also nice if the screwdrivers are magnetic to help fish screws out of recessed areas and for picking them up during re-assembly. The T-handle screwdriver had a nice tip and a magnet in it, but there were situations where it couldn't fit so the dedicated screwdriver to the left got used a lot too.

You'll want to use a light touch during re-assembly. You are screwing into plastic which is not forgiving of over tightening.

A pointy awl type device and something with a 90 degree bend in it. The pointy end will be used to remove the rubber covers in Step 4 and then the L-shaped device like a small Allen wrench on the re-assembly to finesse and tamp wires into their wire ways. The tool on the right does both jobs.

A muffin tin or a tray with 24 compartments in it. My wife bought home 24 tiny muffins from the grocery store and I saved the plastic tray they came in. I numbered the compartments from 1 to 24 with a sharpie pen.

A flat work surface in a well lit, uncluttered room so if something goes flying it can be found easily. A few larger bins would be nice as well as the parts will pile up quickly.

Step 1: Turn It Off!

I start on the top of the machine to get rid of the LiDAR hood and the LiDAR assembly so I am not working on a unit that is wobbling on the work surface. The LiDAR assembly actually screws down into the bottom half of the chassis effectively holding the top and bottom halves of the chassis together so you may as well start with the top of the machine and then flip it over and work mostly on the bottom of the machine. I am also tearing this machine completely down for cleaning purposes. If you are tearing down for rooting purposes (where you need access to the underside of the motherboard), some of the steps such as removing the drive wheels can be skipped. However, it is nice to remove the drive wheels as the springs in the assembly causes them to lift the chassis up while you are working on it which is annoying.

Turn off your Roborock S5 by pressing and holding the Center Power button on the top front cover plate.

Step 2: Remove Top Front Cover Plate

Remove the top front cover plate. It snaps off. Gently get you finger tips under the front center and firmly pull until you hear some snapping and then lift both sides and more snapping will happen and remove the top cover. Don't be shy about the force required for ripping the cover off. A prybar can be used, but be careful that you don't ding the trim. Your fingertips should be sufficient.

Step 3: Remove Top Rear Hinged Cover

Remove the 6 screws (3 on each side) that hold down the hinge plates for the top rear cover plate. Put these in cup 1. (See the cup tray under supplies. That photo was filled following this procedure I am presenting here.)

Step 4: Remove LiDAR Cover

Remove the 5 screws that hold down the LiDAR cover. Notice that the front 2 screws are smaller than the rear 3 screws. The 3 rear screws should be under 3 rubber plugs that you need to pry off first. Also notice that the LiDAR cover moves when you press on it. Screws and rubber covers go to cup 2.  

Step 5: Remove LiDAR Module

Remove the 4 screws (to cup 3) that hold down the LiDAR module and lift the LiDAR module out. Verify there is no lint in the Emitter and Receiver recesses of the orange LiDAR turret. If you are here to fix a LiDAR problem, this is a decent Video, but it just replaces the motor and all is well. Normally, you don't have a motor on hand and you want to prove that the motor is defective before you throw parts at it. This one shows some alternative ways to test the LiDAR motor but has some garbage in it. You're not "Jumpstarting" the motor. You are powering it to prove it works, and for the most part, the motor works but it briefly stops (6:28 mark) and THAT is a problem! I only point out this second video because it gives some techniques for troubleshooting motor problems that can be used on other parts of this machine.

Step 6: Remove the Dustbin

Remove the dustbin. Notice that the dustbin opens to make emptying the bin easier. You don't need to dump the dustbin through the filter opening when the filter is removed. I didn't know this until recently so just passing the tip along.

Step 7: Remove Sweeping Brush

Now, flip the Roborock over and lay it on its back with the front pointing away from you.

Remove the center screw of the sweeping broom (cup 4). If you are doing a major teardown for cleaning, the center screw can be turned out of the brush, but notice that there is a thread less shoulder part of the screw so you need to push the tip of the screw into the hub and then turn to remove the screw fully.

Step 8: Remove Floor Mop Reservoir

Remove the floor mop reservoir (That thingy on the right side of the picture) if present. 3 of the belly plate screws for the next step are under the mop reservoir.

Step 9: Remove Belly Plate

Remove the 7 screws that hold down the belly plate (cup 5). One of them (Upper Right) may be covered with a white (or Black) covering that needs to be punctured to get your Phillip's screw driver in. On a new machine, this is the first step towards voiding your warranty. The second picture is of the baseplate removed AND with most of the filth sucked away with a shop-vac.

Step 10: Remove the Battery

Lift up the two white tabs of the Orange box. This is the battery and disconnect the battery by pinching the clip on the black connector and pull up gently on the clip. BTW, this picture was taken before the second picture of the previous step. You get an idea of why you want to tear these machines down and clean them. These Roborocks are built like Timex watches. (Takes a Lickin' but Keeps on Tickin') This one was sold as unworking for parts only on Ebay. It had a LiDAR error which is easy to fix. The dirt here was not causing problems. I included a link for buying a battery. The S5 originally had a 5200mAh battery. I put a 6800mAh in the wife's Andrew to see if it gave a longer run time. Haven't run it enough to give a report other than it fits!

Step 11: Remove Sweeping Motor

Remove 3 screws to (cup 6) for the Sweep motor. Be careful that you get the correct screws here as there are some Drive Wheel module screws nearby. There is a screw under this motor that helps to hold the chassis halves together.

Step 12: Remove Center Castor

Remove the center caster assembly by pulling up on the wheel. The wheel can be pried out of the swivel and the swivel can be washed. Remove the two screws that hold the swivel bearing (cup 7). This is a step that can be ignored if you are just trying to get to the underside of the motherboard.

Step 13: Remove Brush Module

Remove the brush retainer plate with the two orange pointers and also lift out the brush by lifting up on the left side of the brush. This is done during normal maintenance so I only put it here for completeness.

Remove the 4 screws that hold in the brush Module. (cup 8) You should be able to lift the module straight up and out. If you are taking apart to root the machine, the next steps of disassembling this module can be ignored. The module does need to come out as there are three screws underneath this assembly that hold the upper and lower chassis together.

Step 14: Disassembling the Brush Assembly

Remove the little Phillips screw that holds the connector board. The board is also held by clips but I pushed the board to one side to get it over the retaining clips. Notice that the wire harness is held in two places at re-assembly.

Pry off the rubber dust duct. Yes, it will be annoying to reseat during re-assembly, but if you are disassembling to clean your machine, this is worth the extra effort. At re-assembly, I push a hole over a pin and then move my fingertip in a circular motion and that works well.

Push the dust duct through the opening.

Step 15: Brush Assembly Disassembly Cont.

Remove the grey brush shroud from the White (or black) brush holder assembly by prying the hinges pivots apart. Maybe I should have added a flat tipped screwdriver to the tool list, but your Awl tool should work here.

Step 16: Remove Brush Motor

Remove the three Brush motor screws. (cup 9) I imagine there are a few gears behind the 4 unmarked screws but you can buy the motor and gearbox as an assembly if you need to.

Step 17: Remove L and R Drive Wheels

Remove the R wheel assembly (3 screws) (cup 10). One of them is down in the back. Use the corner to guide your screw driver. Lift the wheel assembly straight up.

Remove the L wheel assembly 3 screws. Put them in cup 10 also. I don't believe these must be removed for rooting purposes, but you will be flipping your chassis over in few steps from now and working on the top side of the bottom chassis half and these will keep lifting the chassis up and that is a Quality Of Life issue. I say take 'em out now. For cleaning these, I just vacuum them off and wipe with a dampened rag but I don't further disassemble these. On an S5 MAX (a future Instructable) this is a significant difference between the two machines and this area will be dug into then.

Step 18: Remove Front Bumper Skirt

Remove the 8 screws that hold the front bumper lip to cup 11. Lift those two parts away. The bumper spring will stick out of the front of the chassis but you can't pull that off just yet. I'm mentioning the bumper return spring because I am not planning to tell you how to re-assemble your Roborock. Just re-trace your steps and this mention should keep you from having to do a bunch of tearing down to get that back in properly.

Step 19: Separate the Top and Bottom Halves of the Chassis

Remove 17 screws to cup 12. 2 of the 17 screws MAY be short. I've taken apart two S5s and one of them had 17 screws all of the same size. One of them had 15 long screws and 2 short screws. IF there are short screws, One of the short screws is in the battery compartment (Under the Warranty Voiding pad) and one of them is in the brush area. If you don't have a good magnetic screw driver to lift the screws out, tip the chassis over near a uniformly colored floor so they don't scatter over a wide area and they are easy to spot.

Lift the two halves of the chassis apart. The bottom should separate easily from the top which should stay on your work surface. Now is also a good time to remove the front bumper Spring. (Upper right of last picture)

Also, if you re-assemble your Roborock and you have one screw left over at the end, it most likely belongs under the sweep brush motor. Just Sayin'

Step 20: Releasing the Fan

Remove the rubber fan exhaust shroud and filter. Notice how the shroud sits on two pins. Also notice the thin porous sheet is towards the outside. The course sponge-like sheet is inside.

Remove the 2 fan clip screws to cup 13.

Also notice how filthy the fan inlet is! I've taken apart 4 Roborocks and they all look like this. I would consider this to be the Achilles Heel of these machines. If your machine doesn't clean like it did when it was new, this is the reason. The fans are difficult to clean internally but they are readily available on AliExpress. When my wife's Andrew died, this is the part I replaced and all was well again. I believe it was an error 13 that opened the Roborock world to me.

Step 21: Remove Fan and Dustbin Harnesses

Remove fan and its wire harness. Unclip at the motherboard. In unclipping harnesses from the motherboard, I do not typically use any tools. It is too easy to crush the plugs with a pliers. I get my fingernails on the edges and then rock the plugs left to right and back and they come out easily enough. Some of the teardown videos show technicians sticking legs of a tweezers in the slots, but mostly it is just grab the wires at the plug and rock them out.

Release the dust bin sensor by pulling the little retaining clip back and then remove the whole wire harness and unclip from the motherboard. (The plug on the dustbin board is against the dustbin) Pay attention to the routing of the wire harness. In all of these steps, do not pull out any kinks in the wire harnesses or attempt to straighten the wires. The bends will help orient you when the Roborock is re-assembled. I will give a motherboard picture later on with a what-is-plugged-into-where explanation, but for now, the fan is the plug on the lower left outside on the motherboard and the dustbin sensor is on the upper right of that 4 connecter cluster. The picture has the dustbin sensor laying next to the connector it plugs into. It was when I was Googling the numbers on the circuit boards that I ran into AliExpress and learned how readily available parts were.

Step 22: Remove LiDAR Harness

Remove the LiDAR harness. The one lipped screw goes to cup 14. Pay attention to the routing channels through the chassis. You don't want this harness getting pinched when you put the chassis halves together on re-assembly.

Step 23: Remove Keyboard

Remove the Keyboard and harness and unclip at the motherboard. In the Roborock teardown videos, this is called the WiFi board. It only has the WiFi LED. There is a push button for the reset button and also the LiDAR hood bumper switch. Pay attention to how the harness is routed and also note that the keyboard clips into place and the white carrier can come along with the board.

Step 24: Brush Motor Harness

Remove the brush motor harness and unclip from motherboard. The two little screws go to cup 15.

Step 25: Remove HMI Keyboard

Remove the HMI (Human Machine Interface) keyboard. There are two screws and put them in cup 16. These screws are longer than the other 4 screws on the left and right sides of the motherboard. Pull straight up on the HMI keyboard. At re-assembly, I just align the board with the screw holes that go through the motherboard and then circle my fingertips on the black 12 pin plugs and then press on the 12 pin plugs to connect the HMI to the Motherboard.

Step 26: Releasing the Motherboard

Unplug the 6 remaining plugs from the motherboard. (The center one can wait until step 27.)

Remove the left side and right side motherboard screws to cup 17. Notice that these are slightly shorter than the center two screws. At this point, you are done with disassembly for rooting purposes. You can root your robot and put it all back together! I'm not a Linux Expert but this looks like it would be interesting to do one day. For now, I am content running my robots with MiHome.

Step 27: Insulating and Grounding Plates

Lift off the motherboard and notice the clear plastic insulating sheet on top of the motherboard grounding plate. The clear plastic piece sits on top of the metal grounding plate.

Step 28: Removing the R Sensors

Remove the 2 tiny screws from the front sensor to cup 18. There is not a need to unplug the sensor. We're going to pull off the R side sensors as an assembly. There is no need to break this down.

Remove one lipped screw on the wall sensor to cup 19. The wall sensor is the sensor the robot likes to keep blocked when it is orienting around obstacles.

Remove the three screws from the R bumper switch to cup 19. Notice the wire routing for the compass boards harness. When re-assembling "Andrew", I got bumper errors and to clean the bumpers. I ended up loosening these three screws slightly so the lever arms moved freely and then Andrew worked perfectly again.

Snap out the 2 cliff sensors on the R side. You should now be able to lift out the front (charging station) sensor, the wall sensor, the R bumper switch and the two cliff sensors as one assembly. I cleaned an S5 MAX where the inside of the cliff sensors were Filthy! There are little clips on the sides that can be pressed to release the clear part from the rest of the sensor for cleaning.

Step 29: Remove Speaker

Remove the speaker and its harness. No screws here. Just fits in slots. Pay attention to the harness routing.

Step 30: Removing the L Sensors

Remove three screws to the L bumper switch to cup 20 and snap out the two L cliff sensors and remove the L sensor assembly.

Step 31: Compass Boards

There are two Compass boards. Each is held by one screw. Remove the screws to cup 21. I also backed up to show how the compass card harness is routed up to the motherboard between the L bumper switch and the sweep brush motor.

Step 32: Charger Contacts

Remove the two charger contacts. 2 screws each for a total of 4 screws to cup 22.

Step 33: Fan Duct

Remove the fan duct. 4 screws to cup 23. This could have been don back at step 20 but then it would have messed up my cup numbering so I left it for the end.

Step 34: Load the Dishwasher

Now you can put all your plastic parts in the dishwasher and clean the filth. When the dishwasher is done, shake off the excess water and then let the plastic parts air dry further before attempting to re-assemble these machines. Re-assembly is simple. Just start at step 33 and undo everything until you get back to step 1!

A word of caution here. I would not recommend letting the dishwasher dry your parts. Stop the cycle when the washing is complete and shake off the excess water and let things air dry for a day. Also, I've noticed some of the exterior parts coming out with yellowing. You can see a little of it in the picture of the S5 sitting on its charging station at the beginning of this Instructable. I am not sure if this is fading from sitting in a sunny spot, or if this is from the dishwasher. All of the parts inside the machine and the top covers all came out white. This is a minor cosmetic detail for me but if it bothers you, then consider yourself warned. I'm just happy to have a Roborock that cleans like it did when it was new.

Step 35: Details and Wrapping Up

The promised Motherboard pictures Top and Bottom. If you click on the pictures there should be label boxes with descriptions of all the connections.

This is my first Instructable. I hope at least a few people will find it useful. These S5s are little more than an automated Dustbuster dragging a Swiffer Broom, but sometimes that is all it takes to make a room presentable. They don't have a lot of intelligence, but they aren't always bumping into things once they get the room mapped. They cannot avoid pet poop. I thought it was a joke when my wife bought her "Andrew" but he has been a faithful worker and has become a beloved member of the household. It was a sad day when he died, but I have been able to bring him back to life and I hope this Instructable encourages others to refurbish theirs.

I plan to do another on the S5 MAX. There are a few significant differences between the S5 and the S5 MAX, but I've only gone through one S5 MAX so far and that is where I came up with the screw bin idea that I used here. I have another one on the workbench but am waiting for a few parts to arrive so I can test drive the machine before I tear into it. I am also in the hunt for any of the S6 models. I am guessing that Roborock has been incrementally improving these machines over time so this Instructable should be a good springboard for digging into later models.

I've not covered the charging station. The circuit boards are available. I can't wait to get my mitts on the S7 and S8 cleaning stations to see how they work, but I doubt they will be sold for parts anytime soon.