europiccola pre millenium issues

[spiral]

Hi guys,
My first post here, so excuse the noobness.
I am an unqualified barista, 3 years in a top restaurant in Sydney etc...I know how to make a nice coffee and am quite technically minded.

I have a 1979 europiccola, it's been going strong for about 10 years, seals changed irregularly etc.
It's just started having some strange issues. The coffee (most of the time) just comes our gurgly and gritty. Its much like if the basket was too full and the head wouldnt tighten properly, not seal to the group head, so coffee and water leaks out the top etc...but I have just changed the seals on the whole group head and am not overfilling the basket and it seems to seal up nice and tight when I put the portafilter in....although it's an old machine and it's a little worn, so it goes past 90 degrees.
It's really got me confused and upset. I have pulled it apart a hundred times and gone over it with a microscope, and cant figure it out. There are a few visible things that have caught my eye during all this. There is a very slight what looks like its an old scratch mark inside of the cylinder, and a small crack on the inside of the portafilter, but the basket is perfect and the piston pressure is completely fine, so these wouldnt effect the actual coffee coming out. Is there any way that the basket wouldnt seal properly besides the obvious reasons?
Please help me!
Thanks

Matt

[spiral]

Oh, by the way, the coffee actually comes out where it should from the spouts, not overflowing out around the sides.

[spiral]

Ok, i gave it a lot of pressure on the handle and it did leak out over the portafilter. So after a new gasket, it's still leaking. I'm guessing either the gasket isnt big enough, or my machine is worn and cant lock in high enough to make a seal properly......Is this something common with old machines, is this how they finally die?

I see there is a group head on ebay, it will cost me $200 aud at least to buy it, and is it worth it? It could have the same issues.

[spiral]

Hi guys, So sorry for the issues here but i figured it out....and i'm not game to say...lets just say I really am a noob despite owning and operating this machine for 10 years.
If i could delete these I would.
As you were.

[Agrajag]

In software engineering we have a term called Rubber duck debugging, it appears to have worked here

[mulquemi]

Spiral,
The only person who can justifiably consider themselves a "noob" is the person who initially presents a issue /problem and then denies every other person an answer /conclusion to their original difficulty.
Your leaking problem potentially could be the answer other readers are seeking themselves but haven't posted yet.
Please put our collective minds to rest and reveal to us the solution to your dilemma.
I too have a La Pavoni professional lever that could suffer similarly to your machine's oddity.
Please conclude your post for the satisfaction of all,then you can rightly consider yourself a warrior in place of a "Noob".
Cheers,
Mick.

[Rolley]

Yeah! I'd like to hear what it was.. I'm going to guess..... (I own a Pavoni too).. if you've been pulling it apart and reassembling so many times, it could be possible that you're continually not putting the group and piston back together right. Did you get the seals the right way around the gasket? Did you screw in the piston so that it perfectly descends to the right level when you pump the lever? The latter of those is one pretty funny mistake I made the first time I serviced my pavoni, it pushed the piston down too far and forced the seal out around the shower screen, but I was off by quite a bit - I imagine if you're off by a smaller amount it might account for a leak but not a full on blow the seal out.