Wow what an adventure that was..starting because of my bottomless portafilter
I made myself a pressure gauge to fit my steam wand to confirm and adjust my pressure stat that I presumed was low.
The PO of my machine told me I'd have to lube the seal periodically to prevent it from leaking.. however my presumption was one of the seals was torn.. I was wrong though and it was both one torn and one upsidown
It was low at only .6 bar, so I go ahead and adjust it to 1.1 bar. No trouble and it seemed to be better.. or I thought.

Next time I fired up the machine, it gushed water out of the weep hole when I actuated the lever and then past that the pressure valve kept leaking non stop at .9 bar and higher.
I figure I need to check things out so first I took the overpressure valve apart and cleaned the seal.



Still gushed water out the weep hole now.
I took the piston out and found the top ring was upsidown!
I had ordered new rings when I ordered the portafilter and basket knowing I'd need them eventually.. so I figured now was the time to do it.
I cleaned the piston in my ultrasonic then polished it with some 800 grit so it wouldn't knick the seals. I heated the seals in water and painstaking got them on... in seemingly the correct manner now.













Pulled 2 shots after, the lever hooks up right away and the extractions seemed to be a lot better!
Super stoked to have my entire setup pretty much Dailed in now! Glad there is plenty of reference photos on here already but figured I'd share

Now I can't blame the machine