Izzo Alex Leva

[level3ninja]

Have you tried replacing the regulator? Could it have been fully?

[AlMac]

Have you tried replacing the regulator? Could it have been fully?

No.
I'll check in with my water filter people.

[Dr_Dave]

Thanks Almac,
Is it possible to give some simple instructions ( and any photo's you may have) on how you replaced the gasket please?
Many thanks
Dave

[AlMac]

Thanks Almac,
Is it possible to give some simple instructions ( and any photo's you may have) on how you replaced the gasket please?
Many thanks
Dave

Sure.

I turned off and let the machine cool fully so nothing is expanded by the heat.

Removed piston head by unscrewing the four screws that hold the head to the bore.

Removed bore by unscrewing the four bolts that hold it onto the machine body.
Removed shower screen from bore.

I do not have the tool to remove the piston head, so used a 6mm pin wrench (first and second pictures below).
Basically, you need a 6mm sized "pin" to go into the holes on the piston head.

I then unscrewed the piston head (first picture). It comes off by itself. It does not hold the spring on - that is a separate bolt that sits inside the piston head.

You can then pull the piston head apart (third and fourth photos). When you do this be very careful to lay everything out in order and so that you can reassemble it up/down the same way it was. In particular, the white silicon ring needs to go back in the same way - not upside down.

In the last picture you'll see the that black gasket goes into the piston head on the left.
I cleaned everything with a clean rag/paper towel (piston head and bore).
I put a light smear of grease over the new gasket and inserted it back into the piston head.

Next I put the group lever head back onto the bore so I had a the whole group reassembled with the piston removed.
The gasket has to be installed this way. A new gasket will not slide back into the bore from the top.

I lightly lubed the outside of the silicon ring and gasket.

Placed whole group into vice - you need something to keep it in place.

Next I gently re-installed the piston piece by piece in order into the group head. As the pieces are a tight fit I very carefully worked them in (especially the gasket). A rubber mallet was useful for a light tap.

Now I had a problem because I didn't have a tool to tighten the group head in the bore.
I screwed it in as far as I could.
I then took two 6mm hex/allen keys and a large screw driver. I placed an allen key on either side of the screw driver, held it all in place by hand and screwed the piston back in - being super careful not to scratch the bore - the allen keys need to sit well inside the piston head holes.
I screwed the piston head in far enough so that I could re-install the shower screen.

Reinstalled group head onto body of machine.

[Dr_Dave]

Hi,
That's really helpful - thank you so much!
Certainly a project in the next few months
Cheers
Dave

[puffink]

Really well done AlMac, If you own one of these machines you need to know how to service it every couple of years. JK

[Peter42]

Hello AlMac
Thank you for your helpful explanations. I haven't been here in the forum for a long time, but the topic looks familiar to me.
Do you think it is easier to turn the piston after removing the head, or doesn't it matter at all?

About one year ago I tried to open the group to check for some dirt behind as I had also a rusty spring fixing the shower.

I made a sample of this famous tool and found that the piston was even too tough to turn. I made the Izzo dancing around on the kitchen table, but it didn't turn.

As I was a little bit afraid of opening it anyway and had no real reason to open it, I decided to postpone it to "some time" together with a friend fixing the machine.

Therefore just the hint, one might need quite some force and a solid lever to turning out the piston.






Tool with lever


rusty spring before exchanging it

Peter

[puffink]

Hi peter42, This is just a suggestion, These pistons can be really hard to break loose, You may have to remove the assembly from the top with the piston intact, Then remove the piston in a vice,Being very careful not to damage it( wood,leather,rubber), Then follow AlMacs instructions for reinstall. Then that great tool you made will work great from then on. A word of caution to all, The shaft that holds the piston has threads on both ends,If you break loose the upper threads you can release the spring in which case you will get a Big surprise, You may want to mark the shaft so you know that you are turning the piston and not the shaft. It is a shame that izzo has not addressed the rusty circlip on the shower screen yet. Jim

[GregWormald]

I'm a bit late on this but have you checked the group head assembly video that Izzo produced?
I found a copy via Google.

Greg

[amellor]

Izzo Alex Leva

I'm a bit late on this but have you checked the group head assembly video that Izzo produced?
I found a copy via Google.

Greg

There is a link in the early pages of this thread. Maybe page 12?

Here

We have success.

The video can be accessed at https://www.dropbox.com/s/v1xwm0wi5j...rvice.avi?dl=0

[AlMac]

[SIZE=2]Do you think it is easier to turn the piston after removing the head, or doesn't it matter at all?

Peter - that tool looks great.
Could you share the measurements for it - one of my relatives offered to make me one?

I would definitely remove lever group to work on it.
Puffink's advice is really helpful - I wasn't aware of that, but it makes sense.
With the whole lever group disassembled it makes it far easier to see what is moving.

It is so easy to take the whole Lever off the machine body and then remove the Lever/piston from the lower bore body that I would always take them completely apart to work on.
It also allows you more easily clean up the bore internals (I would take the opportunity to clean out the grease and re-grease as per my post above).

My piston head only required light force to screw off.
I also don't think it needs a lot of force to screw it back on - as you only want it sitting just behind the shower screen.

I would also be cleaning and re-greasing the threads that the piston head screws on to.

Basically, once it is apart I'd take the opportunity to clean everything and, where it needs lube, re-grease (always lightly with Molykote 111).

[Peter42]

I ordered a aluminum pipe 50 x 5 mm.
The nozzles are 5.2 mm long and 5mm high, acc memory as I am on a trip currently.
I needed a file on the inner edges, due to the shape of the holes in the piston.
My version is 50 mm long, but 60 or 70mm should be more convenient

[Hack]

Hi everyone,
I am getting beeps from the machine every now and then. It comes after a couple of espressos and the machine is on for a couple of hours or so. The PID goes off too. After switching the machine off and then on it goes back to normal. Does this happen to anyone else?
Thanks.

[Hack]

Further to that, I suspect it has to do with a low water level in the tank, PID switching off to prevent burning off the heater. Maybe my water pressure is not strong enough in the water line?

[Dr_Dave]

Hi Hack,
The only beep that I know of is the low water alarm, so I suspect that is what it is. The PID will go off when it suspects a low water level to prevent frying your boiler

I am not an expert but here are my thoughts:

1. Do you have a Brita filter in line? -If so, perhaps increasing the bypass %, this is in case the sensor is not reading correctly due to low ion concentration in the water. You can do a water test to check and then increase the bypass % and recheck.

2. If not it may be the sensor itself - you can remove the sensor and scrub it

If these don't work I would speak to an expert - whoever you purchased from or Chris at Talk Coffee is great

Let us know how you get on
Cheers
Dave