What's wrong with your shot?
Pick your machine, find the symptom, and we'll point you at the cause, the check, and the fix. No guesswork, no parts-bin random suggestions.
Five machines, five fault maps.
Gaggia Classic - common faults
"Shot sprays everywhere and tastes sour"
Likely cause: Nine times out of ten, the factory OPV. Gaggia ships at 15 bar, and 15 bar on fresh coffee just channels. The puck can't hold.
Check: Pull a shot with a bottomless portafilter. If it sprays from one spot instead of a single stream, that's channeling - your puck gave up.
Fix: Drop in a 9 bar OPV spring. First mod every Gaggia owner makes, and for good reason.
"Wet puck and black flakes in the cup"
Likely cause: Two suspects. Scale, or - if you're on an Evo Pro - the boiler coating letting go. I've seen the "Boilergate" flakes firsthand. They're real.
Check: Pull the portafilter and look at the puck. Then check the group head for black specks. Anything that looks like pepper is a red flag.
Fix: Descale first, always. If you've got an Evo Pro with the coated boiler and the flakes come back after a descale, the coating is failing - don't keep chasing it.
"Steam is weak, milk won't microfoam"
Likely cause: Single-hole wand and not much steam pressure. The machine just doesn't have the steam to paint milk properly.
Check: Time your milk. If you're over 30 seconds to get texture, the wand is the bottleneck.
Fix: Upgrade the steam wand and knob, and tighten your routine. You'd be surprised how much of it is technique once the hardware cooperates.
"Temperature drifts between shots"
Likely cause: The bimetal thermostat has a 10-15C deadband. That's not temperature control - that's guessing. If you're temp-surfing, this is why.
Check: Are you watching the ready light and counting? That's the tell.
Fix: Install a PID. Locks brew temp to 0.1C and you stop guessing.
"No water from the group head"
Likely cause: Three usual suspects: 3-way solenoid blocked, pump dead, or scale choking it.
Check: Listen to the pump. If it hums but nothing comes out, you've got a solenoid or a blockage - not a dead pump.
Fix: Descale the solenoid first. If the pump's actually dead, replace it. Don't guess - test.
Rancilio Silvia - common faults
"GFCI trips the moment it heats"
Likely cause: Heating element insulation has broken down. The element is leaking to the boiler shell, and the GFCI is doing its job. I wouldn't keep running it.
Check: Unplug it. Multimeter on continuity - one probe on an element terminal, one on the boiler shell. Should read OL. If it beeps, the element is gone.
Fix: Replace the heating element. Don't run it again until you do. This is a safety thing, not a preference.
"Shot sprays and tastes sour"
Likely cause: 15 bar from the factory - same story as the Gaggia. Too much pressure, puck channels.
Check: Bottomless portafilter. If it sprays, you're channeling.
Fix: Calibrate the OPV down to 9 bar. The method: 130ml in 30 seconds out of the OPV return line. That's your target.
"Temperature surfing is driving me crazy"
Likely cause: Bimetal thermostat deadband. Silvia is famous for it - I've spent more time than I care to admit counting seconds after that light.
Check: If you're counting seconds after the ready light goes off, you're surfing. And you hate it.
Fix: Install an Auber PID. Stop counting.
"Steam is weak"
Likely cause: Single-hole wand. Same problem as the Gaggia - not enough steam to texture milk properly.
Fix: V3 ball-joint steam wand upgrade. Known fix, well-documented.
"Center channeling and my puck screen won't fit"
Likely cause: That protruding factory screw in the group head is gouging the center of your puck. The puck screen won't even sit flat.
Fix: Flat Shower Screen countersink mod. Sink the screw flush. The screen fits, the channeling stops.
DeLonghi Dedica EC685 - common faults
"Shot pours way too fast and tastes sour"
Likely cause: Pressurized basket plus grind too coarse. The pressurized basket hides bad grind - that's the whole point of it. I see this on every Dedica that walks in.
Fix: Swap to a 51mm non-pressurized basket and dial in the grind. Now the coffee tells you the truth.
"Milk foam is dry and coarse, no microfoam"
Likely cause: Panarello wand makes foam. It doesn't make microfoam. It can't.
Fix: Rancilio Silvia steam wand transplant. Classic Dedica mod for a reason.
"No water, pump runs dry"
Likely cause: Airlock in the pump. The pump is running but it's pushing air, not water.
Fix: Prime the pump. Run hot water through the steam wand to bleed the air out. Takes a minute.
"LED blinking a pattern"
Likely cause: The machine is throwing a fault code. Those blinks mean something.
Fix: Decode the LED pattern against the diagnostic table and follow the service flow. Don't guess - the table is right there.
"Pressure too high, channeling"
Likely cause: 15 bar from the factory, and no OPV to speak of. Same channeling story.
Fix: Dimmer preinfusion mod, or add an OPV. Either gets you off the 15 bar cliff.
Flair 58 - common faults
"Pressure won't build"
Likely cause: Piston seal is worn, or the cylinder wall is scored. Pressure is leaking past one of them.
Check: Inspect the seal and the cylinder wall. Look for wear, tears, scratches - anything that breaks the seal.
Fix: Replace the seal. If the cylinder is scored, polish it. A scored cylinder will eat the next seal too.
"Temperature drops mid-shot"
Likely cause: Thermal layering. The cold brew head is leaching heat out of your shot as you pull it.
Fix: Preheat longer. Add a thermal sleeve. Stop giving your heat away to the cylinder.
"Channeling"
Likely cause: Puck prep or grind. On a lever, bad prep shows up loud - there's no pump to hide behind. I'd start with WDT before blaming the machine.
Fix: WDT, level tamp, dial in the grind. The basics, done right.
"Lever feels stuck"
Likely cause: Grind too fine, or the piston is binding. One is a coffee problem, one is a machine problem.
Fix: Try a coarser grind first. If it's still sticking, check the piston for binding.
Lelit Anna - common faults
"Shot sprays and tastes sour"
Likely cause: 12 bar from the factory OPV. Better than 15, still too high. The puck channels.
Fix: Calibrate the OPV down to 9 bar. Standard fix.
"Steam is weak"
Likely cause: Single-hole steam tip. Same story on every Italian single-boiler in this class.
Fix: Multi-hole steam tip and a new O-ring. Cheap fix, big difference.
"PID temp reads wrong vs actual brew temp"
Likely cause: The F.04 offset isn't calibrated. The PID shows a number, but the number is lying to you.
Fix: Flash-boil calibration of the F.04 offset. Get the PID to tell the truth.
"57mm channeling"
Likely cause: Basket or distribution. The stock basket is a weak link, and 57mm is a weird size - prep matters more.
Fix: IMS 57mm precision basket and WDT. The basket alone fixes half of it.
"Scale build-up"
Likely cause: Water hardness. If you're running tap water, this is the bill coming due. I tell everyone: filtered water, or descale every three months.
Fix: Descale, and switch to filtered water. Or you'll be back here in three months.
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