this is actually quite a helpful picture. I'll have a look some time later and get back to you. thanks!

I have the same wiring diagram from Edika, the Lelit distributor in Montreal, but was having the same problem following it. See my post regarding manufacturing variability. Edika was fantastic for information, and parts. I purchased the main group seal, the main boiler seal, and the two heating element seals. If I can achieve basic functionality, I think I'm going to replace all the 'soft' parts.

I think it's impossible to wire the solenoid backwards, but apparently it is possible to install it backwards. There's an official video about replacing the solenoid from Lelit here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECcLBHRk9fs

interesting... somebody in this thread is an expert on Lelit machines and gave me some advice but his description of wiring (long blue or brown cable) just didn't make sense to me. So this kinda explains why. I'll def check your post on manufacturing variability. Happy to have this thread rekindled again and an increased hope to wire things the right way.

In Europe and the UK, brown wires are live (equivalent to our red or black), and blue wires are neutral (equivalent to our white). In terms of operation, AC-operated devices will work equally well wired either way. This includes heaters, solenoids, motors and the input to electronic "black boxes". So, your solenoid issue is very unlikely to be electrical in nature. More likely it's a mechanical issue. As someone already mentioned, solenoids valves installed backwards will not operate properly; the polarity of the coil does not matter.

I do have to note that I did not dismantle the valve from the boiler when I replaced the casket rubber. Or am I getting you wrong?

Nope, you got me right. If you didn't remove the solenoid, then that can't be the issue. This is such a weird case!

explained in short what happens in my case:

steam = off
brew = on
solenoid is sealed
/only way water moves is through steaming wand

steam = on
brew = on
solenoid is open
/ water moves through boiler as it should.


so somewhere the wiring makes it activate/deactivate the solenoid in the opposite way it normally should.

/ double post /

I notice in your diagram you show the steam/middle switch with four connections. In the official wiring diagram they show that switch has six connections.

On the back of my switch there are six physical connections. From the rear there are two connections is the upper left quadrant, and two in the lower right. I have put a continuity tester (multimeter with a tone) to that switch, and the two connectors in the upper left quadrant pass current in opposite button positions. In other words, when the button is pressed, one of those two connectors is live, and when the button is not pressed, the other is live. On my machine a single blue wire connects to the upper connection of the top left pair, and I believe that is the blue wire for the solenoid. If this is right, your solenoid would be behaving in a reverse manner, and, since the solenoid (I think) closes when there's no power, you would be passing power to the solenoid when it should be powerless, forming a short circuit at the very least, but certainly an undesirable condition.

In the Lelit video about changing the solenoid, the technician shows a diagram of a spring loaded solenoid valve. If I read that correctly, the valve is closed when at rest, and opens under power. By the way, in the Lelit Insider video about changing those buttons, the technician just destroys the button to get it out. Apparently it's almost impossible to remove them without breaking them, so I'm not going to attempt that to check the connector numbers on the body of the switch.

Here's the switch, MC142

https://www.espressoxxl.de/DRUCKSCHALT ... EM-PL042EM