It appeared to be in very good shape (the tag on the bottom shows a 1994 build date), and the lady I bought it from (in a nice neighbourhood) assured me that it worked. When I got home, I gave it a quick little clean up (there was the typical "gunk" at the bottom of the water tank, so gave it a little shot of CLR and rinsed it, filled it up with cold water, and watched to see what would happen. All lights and buttons on the machine seem to work well. First time I turned it on nothing came out, but lots and lots of steam and hot water came when I used the steam lever (this part works excellently, this is some of the hottest steam I've ever encountered coming out of a machine). The pump was running noisily, but still nothing coming out of the portafilter. This was before I learned of the importance of priming the pump, but more on that later. However, I didn't run it for very long because there was obviously a problem.
So, I'm a bit of a handy guy with electronics and LOVE projects like this, so I took off the plastic casing so I could see what the insides looked like (without actually disassembling any "internal" components). In the clearish pipe between the brass tank and the pump, I could see lots of black gunk. So, I used some 20:1 diluted CLR (I know this will make many of you scream) and found an article on the web on priming and the use of the Rancilio "reset" button on the boiler. I primed it, and tons of water came out at the steam nozzle, and I could smell the CLR coming out through the steam tube, and could see the "black stuff" moving through the clearish tube and eventually disappearing into the brass boiler tank. Lots of water and steam from the steam nozzle, and as I did this a few times, I could see the water (which was black at first) become clear. Still, nothing coming from the portafilter (except once when a small amount came out).
I did a little more reading online and figured out how to remove the "shower head". It is held on by a bolt that contains a spring with a little silicone head on it. The shower head was totally gunked up. So, I scrubbed this until all the holes were clear again. I also decided to see what happened when I ran the machine without the shower head on - and water came out. Funnily enough, water would come out of the "hole" in the group head in a strong stream when just the power switch was on, but if I hit the "brew" button, water would just kind of bubble out in globs. However, if I reassemble the group head, steam still works like a hot damn, but nothing from the group head.
The casing on the whole device is now reassembled, but when I fill it with water and turn it on, still no water comes from the group head when I hit the "brew" button. Is this thing toast? Does the pump need to be replaced? Or is it just still gunked/calcified inside? Is there some more "tricks" I could try to get this thing afoot again? Or is it even worth saving given what repair costs might be? I would love to get this thing flying again.
Fellow espresso aficionados, please help, it would be very appreciated!
