Millennium La Pavoni - removing sleeve gasket

[abbynormal]

Hi all,
I'm new to posting in this forum, but I thought someone might be able to help me out.

I have a La Pavoni Professional which is about 5 years old. I've finally decided it's time to replace all the gaskets, but I've run into a little snag. The 10-piece gasket set for the millennium edition includes a "sleeve gasket" which I think goes onto the nylon sleeve that lines the group. From what I can tell, that sleeve is screwed in, and I cannot get it to turn for anything.

Two questions I guess: 1) how important is it to unscrew this nylon sleeve? and 2) has anyone run into this before?

Other than this, the sleeve is in good shape; no cracking or anything. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
-Matthew

[epdagger]

Have you checked out the Refeathering the Chrome Peacock thread. It may be of help. Also this thread may help My La Pavoni is dead.

It may not be that big a deal - but the thermoplastic is less durable. And eventually, heat does break down that material - as I mentioned, I needed to replace the thermoplastic sleeve in my machine, and the material was surprisingly brittle (had used my machine daily for about 3 years). That's one of the reasons why La Pavoni stresses in the Millenium manuals to not leave the machine on unnecessarily - heat does wear down that group sleeve.

[abbynormal]

Thanks for the links. I stumbled across those threads previously. My sleeve isn't cracked, I just can't get it to turn and remove. I suppose if I bought a new one, I could bust the old one out with carefully applied force. So far, though, it seems seized in there.

[mayhew]

What are you using to turn the sleeve?

It's a low stress seal, perhaps the least stressed of anything besides the steam wand gaskets. Did you ever replace it? have you had problems with it in operation?

I just posted about using a bicycle headset wrench to remove it. Worked really well.