I came across jarviscochrane's post on the forums ( Diagnosing problems with a 3 way solenoid ) that got me thinking. I dont think its lack of pump pressure that is the problem (which was jarviscochrane's issue) as there is pressure at the grouphead that is causing a slight 'sneeze'. Im more inclined to think that the solenoid isnt opening that path properly. I should have taken jarviscochrane's advice back on page 1 and checked that . Anyway, Ill take the solenoid apart and check it and see if that makes a difference.

I took apart the valve controlled by the solenoid which was clean. I replaced the solenoid (I had a spare parts machine available) in case it wasn't opening the gate properly. This didn't fix the problem. After about 2 hours (it was really difficult to get to the valve when its installed) fiddling with bits and pieces. It turned out that the little piece of plastic at the end of the drain pipe was clogged!

While the machine was idle, I wired up the light that connected to the pressure stat.

Turns out that it didnt light up when the machine switched on. Im leaving it in place and will replace it in due course. Im assuming its blown.
Everything went back together and more coffee shots. I checked the pump pressure at the group head and for an old pump its still pushing out dead on 9bar. Im playing around with the pressurestat re: the boiler temp as im finding that im having to flush alot to cool it off. At the moment its at 1.2bar but im experimenting with 1-1.1
This restoration is more or less finished. If I make any modifications i'll post again but otherwise im very happy with the result and am keen to do another one.
Thanks to all that have helped me along the way.

Good call on the weak sneeze. I had the same problem and found that when the plastic end of the tube is screwed all the way on it blocks the end. Somehow it tightens itself on so every once and while i have to reach in and loosen it off a couple of turns. Removing it completely causes overspray to get everywhere. Nice job... post more pics of the finished product!

Nice job on the restore. The Compact is a great little machine - i love mine.
I've thought about adding some LEDs and wiring them up to light as follows....
backlight for sight glass - muted white in standby, red when autofill is activated.
backlight for pressure gauge, muted white in standby, red when heater is on
Accent LEDs around the grouphead activated when pulling a shot

I've also had a shot ruined by the autofill kicking on during a shot - I may install a relay behind the brew button to disable the autofill while pulling a shot (the wires to the autofill sensor pass right by the brew button)

I may install a relay behind the brew button to disable the autofill while pulling a shot

There is needle valve adjustment on the main water distrubution valve under the drip tray that allows you to control the amount of water that gets directed to the group vs the boiler. I have mine set so very little water goes to the boiler if it kicks on during a brew cycle. The down side is the autofill is slow to fill the boiler when not brewing so I usually overfill the boiler slightly with the manual fill before turning the machine on.

I'm also curious about others experiences with temperature stability and flush routine with the Compact.

I currently have the boiler set at 0.9-1.0 bar and have been impressed/frustrated by the temp stability of this machine. At this setting, there is no flash boiling during flush making it difficult to count off to a desired tempurature. At higher settings I was having difficulty getting the sweet flavours and assumed the temp was rising too quickly through the shot. Has anyone had a similar experience or gone to taken the next step of installing a thermocouple into the preinfusion chamber of the group?

jarviscochrane wrote:I'm also curious about others experiences with temperature stability and flush routine with the Compact.

I currently have the boiler set at 0.9-1.0 bar and have been impressed/frustrated by the temp stability of this machine. At this setting, there is no flash boiling during flush making it difficult to count off to a desired tempurature. At higher settings I was having difficulty getting the sweet flavours and assumed the temp was rising too quickly through the shot. Has anyone had a similar experience or gone to taken the next step of installing a thermocouple into the preinfusion chamber of the group?

Haven't done the thermocouple, but I've thought about it.
The manual fill valve on my machine is really sticky, hard to press; I haven't had it apart (I bought the machine from a fellow homeroaster who had restored it). The contact for the autofill is really short; the water level is usually right at or near the full mark; if i want to ensure that the autofill won't kick in, I top it off, or open the water valve until the autofill kicks in.

I run the boiler at 1.1-1.2 bar. I do get flash boiling. Also, I don't count - I listen.

When starting a flush, it starts out flash boiling. The pump is pulsing with a NOM NOM NOM NOM sound (appropriately enough), but the sound of the flash boiling is constant. This is (obviously) too hot. As the flush continues, the boiling starts to break a little bit; that's the high end of temps for my shots. Continuing on the flush, the boiling sound shortens to pace the NOM sounds; a little longer and it only accents the start of the NOM, longer and it's gone altogether, which is the very low end of where I typically pull shots (Sweet Maria's Espresso monkey likes it right at that point).

Bryce, Hi.
Do you still have your Faema Compact S machine? I'd like to ask you for a little help with mine.