I had a problem today with my 1999 Europiccola, the details of which might be interesting to others.

Yesterday when I made two shots of espresso I noticed that something was wrong, the handle moved down more than it should have for the amount of espresso that was delivered for the first part of the shot, and there was not quite as much resistance as usual for the grind I was using.. This morning the situation was worse, though the espresso was excellent.

I got out my rifle bore illuminator, removed the cap, and looked inside. The reservoir was filled with brown water. (I hate fire arms, however, this is the best illuminator I have ever found for looking inside espresso boilers. )

About two weeks ago when I did the normal routine group cleaning I had noticed that everything inside the boiler seemed to be a bit darker than usual, especially the intake tube. There was quite obviously already a problem then that I did not recognise.

I had a spare set of seals, so disassembled everything again, and replaced the seals. I cleaned the group very thoroughly. I drained the boiler and rinsed it thoroughly with tap water fortified with sodium carbonate and phosphate, I rinsed after that with pure tap water, and then put it back together.

The seals were not worn, but they did not "flare out" at all, they have been on the machine since I changed to a brass piston about two and a half years ago. Perhaps at routine servicings, if one finds it too easy to put the piston back into the cylinder, it may indicate a future problem. The last few times it just slipped into the cylinder without having to use care to get it started.

2.5 years on the seals sounds pretty good. Good sign there of the failing seal though - when the piston slides back in easily without any issue.

Do you thing your recent polishing of the piston sleeve might have made the seal failure more obvious, or is it just coincidence? I'm thinking of polishing mine the next time I have it opened up.

How is the lever action now with the polished sleeve and new seals?

I had a problem recently on my 1999 Europiccola of not being able to find a constant grind setting. I traced the difficulty back to a bottom piston seal whose "flare" had worn down. Fortunately, I too had some replacement seals on hand. I replaced both, and all is well now.

When I think about it now, I should have noticed at the last service the blackened inlet tube and other things, it was already failing then and for some reason I did not make the connexion that the seal was failing. When you consider the environment that these things are in, two and a half years is doing quite well. With the new seals the piston still moves as smoothly as before. I do think polishing the cylinder walls is a good idea, and plan to do it on future servicings as part of the routine.