Hello,
The other day I forgot to shut off my Gaggia Classic and it was on all day. When I realized that, it was night and the unit was very, very hot. Since that day it's working weird. I bougth it in 2010 and it's being working perfectly, until now.
I recently installed a pressure gauge and set the machine at 9 bar. Perfect!
Before, I turned it on and in a few seconds the light indicated that the machine was ready to be used.
Now, after turning it on, I have to wait like 30 seconds to see that the pressure begins to rise and stops at 9 bar, a "click" is heard, but the light is still off... then, after a little more than 1 minute of keeping the pressure at 9 bar the light turns on.
This is not normal, it is taking too long and a lot of temperature is being generated, which I had not noticed before. What do you think could be happening? The people from Gaggia have not given me any useful answers.
Thank you Folks!

I have a similarly aged Gaggia classic, and while it can produce hot water after just a few seconds there was no way it has ever been ready to produce espresso in under three minutes - Gaggia recommend 7 in the manual as I recall.

Even after producing espresso I wait a full minute before producing steam.

I really wouldn't worry about it.