[Closed] Any Gaggia experts around?

Sounds like your steam thermostat is knackered.
You can check it if you have a multimeter. Strip the top cover of screws and remove the steam knob. Power up the machine and let it get hot and wait for the fuse to trip.
UNPLUG THE MACHINE!
Remove the cover quickly and measure continuity across the pins of the thermostat. If it's a closed circuit, ie, there are ohms showing on the multimeter, the thermostat is buggered. You can pick them up for a fiver online.

When did you last descale it? If you haven't upgraded the wand, now's a good time to do so! Let me know if you need any more info. I have restored many of these machines.

Erm yes, descaling......!

Thanks for the help- I’ve ordered a few fuses and a new thermostat

What’s the wand upgrade?

If you've still got the pannarello steam wand, the fat black one, this is a simple upgrade and makes amazing milk.
Better explanation in the link. Very easy to fit too.
Link

And descaling! There are instructions online. Or put some kettle descaling stuff in the water tank. Warm up the machine. Remove the shower screen and then the two caphead screws under the shower screen. The aluminium lump can then be carefully pried out. There is usually a build up of scale on this and can be cleaned separately.

Purge the machine with the descale liquid in the tank. Turn the machine off and wait a few mins. Turn it on, run some more through. Turn off.

Don't forget to open the steam valve when the pump is running. This will send the descale stuff through the valve. However if it's blocked you will have to sort that out first. Do this a few times and rinse really well.

(Sorry if this is a hijack!)

I've tried to get the aluminium lump out of my Classic a couple of times, but it's pretty stuck. Any tips?

The steam wand upgrade - a quick word of warning - the supplied rubber washer (and subsequent ones I tried to replace it with) have all been a slightly different size to the original one so I found it a sod to fit without it leaking. So, if you can, try to retain the rubber washer from the original wand.

Now I have fixed it it is great though.

(Sorry if this is a hijack!)

I’ve tried to get the aluminium lump out of my Classic a couple of times, but it’s pretty stuck. Any tips?

a tyre lever something thats not a screwdriver as the aluminium is quite soft and jam it between the gasket. or buy a new gasket for £3 and remove old one giving you a gap to wedge a lever in between the group head flange and the block.

top tip to remove a stuck gasket: small self tapping screws into the rubber and a pair of pliers.

If you are in an area that suffers from limescale then it may be worth removing the solenoid valve and giving that a clean as its easy to get blocked up

The solenoid valve is an absolute pain! Ours blocks up all the time, even with monthly descaling, and I can now strip it down in a few minutes. From what I can tell even a tiny chunk of scale that's come off the inside of the boiler will block it.
The route for the group head is narrower than for the steam wand, so it tends to be more prone to blockage. I find a strand of brake or gear cable wire really handy for this as it's small and flexible enough to go into the routes and clear out chunks of limescale.
Replacing the group head gasket (especially with the self tapper tip above) is well worth it - you'll get a better seal with the basket. The alloy block seats into the bottom of the boiler and so tends to feel like it's not shifting at all when you're levering on it, then will suddenly pop out. It's also peanuts to replace if it is too far gone, although I've fund bunging it in a jug with a teaspoon of Puly Caff works really well.

The steam wand upgrade looks good....but my model has the flexible steam hose/ball joint steam wand so the Rancilio upgrade won’t fit- arse!

<Thread hijack>

Piesoup you sound like you know what you are talking about, my 12 year old gaggia classic seems to have stopped pushing water through the espresso bit, any advice gratefully received!

holmsey : solenoid valve blockage

how to clean solenoid valve

Yup, 99 times out of 100 it's the solenoid valve!

Mine is the flexi pipe onto the ball joint. The upgrade does work. It all snaps together. Carefully pry it apart with a small flat blade screwdriver. There are vids online too. Probably easier than reading my waffle.
And yes, try and keep the original o-ring.

Mine is the flexi pipe onto the ball joint. The upgrade does work. It all snaps together. Carefully pry it apart with a small flat blade screwdriver.

Excellent- will the ‘pre modified v1/2’ on amazon work ok?

Yup, that's the one I used I think. Looks identical.
Here's a helpful vid

If you're after decent coffee I'd invest in one of these:

https://peak-water.com/#shopify-section-1561470912108

It will drastically reduce your need to descale, especially if you're in a high bicarb/Ca area, and will make a big difference to the quality of your espresso.

JP

Thanks somafunk and piesoup will check that out

This is the single most helpful thread on stw! My Gaggia hasn’t worked properly for an age, now about to do battle with it with all this new info.!

Yes, thanks guys. I've had a slightly leaky gasket for ages (missus!) but not managed to get the whole area apart... will have another go soon!

I bought all my spares from here
Mr Bean2Cup

They also have diagrams that can help. Most of the internal parts are common with the Classic. Not the steam valve though!
If you find you have a lot of scale in your machine, you can split the boiler to give it a good clean. You will need a new boiler gasket as it's definitely not reusable.
If it's in bits and you want to have a play, look at adjusting the opv. Bring the brew pressure down to 10bar as it's a lot higher on these machines for use with pods. I have a gauge that I can send to help with setting it up.

Well £25 and 45mins later I now have a fully working Gaggia, an upgraded steam wand (which is infinitely better than the black plastic one) plus a few spare fuses

Thanks all!