Hello everyone! This is my first post, and I need some help!

I recently bought a used Oscar (a month or so ago), and fixed a leak on it. The machine worked great until 3 days ago, when the machine started to read low water while there was plenty of water in the boiler. I read several handy forum posts on this and figured out that the probe needed some cleaning. I cleaned the probe, and afterward, the machine stopped autofilling!

I've checked the GICAR box, and didn't really know what to look for, but all the contacts seemed to be clean and not corroded.

I need help! Any ideas would be great!

The very first thing you want to do is to disable the boiler's heating element (disconnect one of the leads) because you definitely do not need boiler heat to troubleshoot this situation.

Does the machine still indicate that it believes you have a low water situation? If so, perhaps that, by itself, will disable the autofill circuitry?

Can you get the pump to operate and push water through the grouphead?

I'll try disconnecting the element next.

The pump will still push water through the grouphead for about a second before the no water indicator comes I and stops the pump.

The sole purpose of disconnecting the heating element is to ensure that you do not burn the element out during this troubleshooting adventure.

This probe that you cleaned . . . it must extend down into the water reservoir and has a wire attached to it, right? There should be two electrical connections to the reservoir. TEMPORARILY connect these two wires and your low water signal should "go away".

You have a manual for this machine? If not, download one from here: http://www.nuovadistribution.com/

I emptied the boiler after I cleaned the probe, so there really is no water in it.

The main problem is that it should respond to having no water by sucking water into the boiler. But instead of doing that, it just tells me it has no water.

I disconnected the heating element during troubleshooting and the low water light is still coming on.

A disconnected heating element and the low water indicator have NO RELATION . . . I suggested you disconnect the element as a safety precaution ONLY.

I figured that. I'm at a loss for ideas now, since I tried several times to get the water filling to start by leaving the steam valve open and pumping water through the grouphead in short bursts. Still no filling

This probe that you cleaned . . . it must extend down into the water reservoir and has a wire attached to it, right? There should be two electrical connections to the reservoir. TEMPORARILY connect these two wires and your low water signal should "go away".

Did you try this? Is this description correct?

Do you mean connect the wire from the probe to the one of the wires from the heating element? Or connect the two wires of the heating element together?

I thought you said you had cleaned the probe that extends into the water reservoir tank - hence my comments.

Do you mean connect the wire from the probe to the one of the wires from the heating element? Or connect the two wires of the heating element together?

Absolutely NOT - neither of the above.

Post a picture(s) of the internals of your machine. Do you have a manual for this machine?