Ok, been reading this site and a few others all night and day. I have a eh, 6 or 7 year old Expobar office lever. It has given me a few problems in the past, but now I have a real problem. Here is what happened:

Cleaned the machine as I always do last night. Backflushed it, then ran the hot water so I had some hot water to clean the portafilter parts with.
Turned off the machine.
Came in later, turned on the machine.
I noted that the pump did not go off as it normally does after I pull water, eh, sometimes it does not.
I then noted that the machine was hissing, like the vacuum valve was leaking, and I had no pressure.
Turned off machine.

Got up in the morning, turned on machine.
Pump ran continuously and would not stop.
Turned off machine.

Came in today, after reading a lot.
Took apart vacuum valve and cleaned it. Reinstalled.
Took the autofill solenoid valve apart and cleaned it, although it looked really clean.
Reinstalled.

Turned on machine. Started to heat, no hissing, this looks good.
Pulled a shot with no grinds to see if it works, water comes out.
Turned on hot water want, water comes out.
Now, pressure goes to zero, pump kicks in, and it will not stop pumping.
Turn off machine, let cool, tear apart solenoid again and reclean, reinstall.

Turn on machine, pumps continuously. Checked coil of solenoid, looks good at 250ohms.
What could be wrong with this machine? I will note that when it is pumping continuously,
the little overflow spigot to the reservoir under the portafilter is spitting out water.

I got nothing. This machine irks me, been broken many times before... I think I
want to fix it to get through the weekend and get a new machine, but right now
I am not sure where to turn. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

What could be wrong with this machine?

Your autofill solenoid is NOT getting the voltage signal it needs to open. Wire it up like so to check this:



Use spade adaptors from your local supply house and measure voltage while the pump is trying to fill the boiler. During all of this, disconnect one of the heating element leads so you do not further the problem.

Stabbed my meter on it... I have 120V AC across the solenoid coil when I turn
the machine on. Still, it comes on and pumps continuously. Is there something
I am missing here? I have voltage at the solenoid, I have cleaned the solenoid...

So right now I have:

Turn on machine
water runs out of overflow spigot thing into the reservoir under the portafilter
pump runs continuously

This sure does sound like the solenoid is not working, but I have checked it
at least three times. (and just now). Hrmm.

Disconnect heating element as previously advised.
Disconnect one lead from pump.
Disconnect one lead from solenoid.

Power up machine.

Reconnect solenoid - do you hear "click" ?

Just a thought... This all started when I cleaned the machine. Could this be that the OPV has a problem? Not sure how I would check/clean that... I do not have a pressure gauge on hand.

erics wrote:Disconnect heating element as previously advised.
Disconnect one lead from pump.
Disconnect one lead from solenoid.

Power up machine.

Reconnect solenoid - do you hear "click" ?

Yes. I hear it click perhaps a second after I turn it on.

There's only two circuits that cause the pump to run when the machine is on. One is the brew lever, the other is the autofill circuit.

If the brew lever switch is faulty, this would cause the pump to run continuously also.

The idea behind doing things EXACTLY as I wrote is that you eliminate extraneous noises (clicks) from other components. You should hear a click from the fill solenoid the instant you make the connection at the coil. If you power up the machine with the components disconnected as advised, all you should hear is the relay internal to the Gicar controller "clicking" because the boiler needs water. This particular "click" would, in fact, occur about a second or two after power up.

If you now connect the previously disconnected lead to the solenoid, you should hear it click.

Ah, you are a sneaky and wise one.

When I plug the solenoid back in, the click I hear is much louder. If I unplug the
solenoid, it is a quieter click. I am assuming the solenoid is making it loud...

Then disconnect one lead from your brew lever switch and see if the pump still runs upon power up.

Do all of this with one lead from the heating element DISCONNECTED.

Yes, the pump still runs if I disconnect one lead from the lever switch.

Hrm. I think the pump running may be correct (boiler low on water)...
I am not sure why it is not filling and water is running out of the overflow
drain.