Ha...I just found this "trick" on WLL troubleshooting tips for the Office Lever. I will do it tonight when I get home from work. I will also check the flow rate...if I get it working.

I don't have a baster...but I do have a marinade injector. I assume that will work too. WLL recommends doing this 2-3 times while the machine is turned on...i.e. injecting water while the pump is activated. Then, they recommend opening the steam wand for 1 minute or until the sputtering stops. Does that sound about right?

Also, the back pressure flow rate through the OPV on one of these machines should be around 260 ml/minute @ 9 bars...correct?

Oh...and by the way...thanks for all the help!

Then, they recommend opening the steam wand for 1 minute or until the sputtering stops. Does that sound about right?

No, that is for a Silvia, Gaggia, LeLit, etc., etc., i.e. a single boiler machine NOT a hx machine. Once may do the trick.

Well...I tried injecting water into the pump with the marinade injector but it didn't change the situation. The pump is still not filling the boiler as quickly as it should and I'm only getting a spurt of water here and there out of the group.

This AM I pulled the pump and removed the OPV and the pump priming valve. There was a good bit of white gunk in the connection between the pump and the pump priming valve. I don't know if it was enough to be the source of the problem; but at any rate, it's clean now.

Tonight I will reconnect everything and try again. At this point, if the pump doesn't fill the boiler relatively quickly, it would seem that I have likely narrowed the potential causes down to a dead pump.

Why don't you just see if the pump will "pump" when not connected to the rest of the system? Take suction from the reservoir as normal and use some hardware store flex hose.

Swear words, swear words...lots and lots of swear words!!!

Looks like there will be a new pump in my not so distant future.

The pump is still moving a small amount of water but there's hardly any pressure behind it.

Thanks for the repair info Dan. The pump on my machine is a C.E.M.E. E 505. I know these and Ulka are essentially the same...but I don't know how to go about getting one of these apart...it doesn't have any screws on the output end of the pump like the Ulka models?

For a replacement, I guess this http://www.chriscoffee.com/products/home/repairparts/vibpump
is what I'm looking for...

Thanks for all the help guys! I really appreciate it!

FINALLY...some progress!

I replaced the original C.E.M.E. pump with the Ulka model listed above from Chris's coffee. Works great...boiler fills quickly and water is flowing from everywhere it's supposed to. Even with the new pump and after pressure adjustments, the OPV still hasn't leaked since replacing the o-ring...and appears to be doing its job in terms of adequately regulating brew pressure.

Since this is my first experience with this type of machine, and since I didn't have a pressure gauge on my Silvia, I have a question regarding what I'm seeing on the pressure gauge with a blind backflush basket inserted. Right now, when I lift the lever, the pump engages...the gauge reads 0 for about 2-3 sec...then jumps to about 4 or 5 bars for 2-3 sec...then the pressure ramps up and reaches 10 bars at about 8-10 sec after lifting the lever. Is this normal...and if so...does it have any effect on how/when you begin timing a shot? Do you begin timing the shot when the lever is lifted or when you hear the pressure ramp?

I ask because, as a result of installing the pressure gauge, I had to increase the length of the water line between OPV and the boiler by about 10-12 inches...plus another 4 inches on the line leading to the gauge. I just want to make sure the additional length isn't negatively affecting the machine performance.

Thanks again for all the help...next on the list is a serious descale...which means I should be pulling shots by tomorrow evening.