day wrote:Hey...I actually am a little confused now. I purchased some of the OE Pin Lever oil and put a few drops on the top of the metal/metal Piston every week or as it feels it needs it (the raised portion that is visible and accessible) .

The pin oil is a mineral oil for the metal-to-metal surface of the lever pins and the roller bushing that rolls in the group slot. It's food safe, so if a little of it travels down the piston shaft there's nothing to worry about. It's handy because you can use a microdrop on a frequent basis without removing the pins. (It's also great to have around for lubing the metal-to-metal moving parts in your pasta machine.)

I don't think you should be using it on the piston shaft/rod to try to lubricate that upper rod seal. For seals you should be using a food safe silicon grease like Dow 111 or Haynes silicon grease, and you can put a light coat of that on the piston rod and on the interior of the cylinder when you have the piston out.

insatiableOne wrote:The group was crazy dirty from whatever grease was used from the factory.

The usual cause of that gunk is from coffee residues. It can build up and become hard to clean, and give your shots a bad taste. Ideally you should pop the dispersion screen every week or two and give it a good scrubbing with hot water and detergent. The backflush detergents (like Joe Glo) work well for this cleaning. You can also use the trick that drGary mentioned a while back ( La pavoni europiccola temperature issue? ) to help keep the dispersion screen clean, although I'd still recommend removing the screen once in a while to see if you have coffee residue building up inside.

Thanks for the clarification, I think I put it on the piston at first, but the upper part started turning color and i wiped it off and have been using the pin lube. I am still a little confused becase I could have sworn I heard somehwere not to put Dow111 on the piston rod itself...but I am probably just making that up! Will make that change and reapply the dow to the rod and use the oil as I now see it was intended. Thanks!

homeburrero wrote:) to help keep the dispersion screen clean, although I'd still recommend removing the screen once in a while to see if you have coffee residue building up inside.

The old grease above the immersion screen what was referring to, don't feel it was coffee related. Especially on top of the rod & lever pins.

Actually the bottom of piston & screen it was the utmost slightest of brown. I have never removed it before, don't see the need to until the next lube.
I try to keep my machine extremely clean after each shot. → must be working