Removing the brew group

These are the directions for removing a stuck brew group. If the brew unit is ready to go back in the directions for resetting the drive gears is at the end.

Remove the dredge drawer. Open the door. On the left side of the brewing unit, and towards the back of the brew group, there is a single screw. Remove the screw. Grab the handle and pull carefully, but firmly with a quick ****. The brew group should come out. There is a piece that remains in the machine. Slide that piece down and to the right and it will come off. Insert the piece into the hole on the backside of the brew group with the clip up. Tighten the screw and move brew group back into position.
To return the brew group to the centered position, you first need to drop the funnel. To do this, look on the opposite side of the brew group from the handle. At the top you will see an object that looks like a sharks fin. If you follow this piece down you will see 2 horizontal bars on the brew group body. Push your finger between these 2 bars and the funnel will drop. Now you can push the puck slide on the left side down and to the center. (You can insert your key into the hole in the front and twist the key to return the brew unit to the center. Line up the 2 diamonds and it centered) If you look down through the funnel you should see a piston. This should be centered in the funnel. If not, locate the slide on the left side of the brew unit,(it should be hanging down, a flat rectangular piece attached to the cylinder) and push the slide to the right until it does. Push the press button and you are now ready to reinsert the brew group in to the machine. First you must close the door and turn on the machine without having the brew group in, but you must have your drip tray and dredge drawer in. Turn the machine on. You will hear the motor turn on and when it stops completely, open the door and remove the tray, now insert the brew group and replace the tray.

I have the exact same problem. Did anyone get back to you at all? Thanks. Lori

Remove the dredge drawer. Open the door. On the left side of the brewing unit, and towards the back of the brew group, there is a single screw. Remove the screw. Grab the handle and pull carefully, but firmly with a quick ****. The brew group should come out. There is a piece that remains in the machine. Slide that piece down and to the right and it will come off. Insert the piece into the hole on the backside of the brew group with the clip up. Tighten the screw and move brew group back into position.
To return the brew group to the centered position, you first need to drop the funnel. To do this, look on the opposite side of the brew group from the handle. At the top you will see an object that looks like a sharks fin. If you follow this piece down you will see 2 horizontal bars on the brew group body. Push your finger between these 2 bars and the funnel will drop. Now you can push the puck slide on the left side down and to the center. (You can insert your key into the hole in the front and twist the key to return the brew unit to the center. Line up the 2 diamonds and it centered) If you look down through the funnel you should see a piston. This should be centered in the funnel. If not, locate the slide on the left side of the brew unit,(it should be hanging down, a flat rectangular piece attached to the cylinder) and push the slide to the right until it does. Push the press button and you are now ready to reinsert the brew group in to the machine. First you must close the door and turn on the machine without having the brew group in, but you must have your drip tray and dredge drawer in. Turn the machine on. You will hear the motor turn on and when it stops completely, open the door and remove the tray, now insert the brew group and replace the tray.

Hi
I would say that your brew unit is not locked in.


Brew group missing indicator
Open the door on the right. Push on the upper left side of the brew unit until you hear a click. Close the door and see if the message is gone. If it is make sure that the grounds drawer is in place.
Tip: Pull the grounds drawer out, then push it back with only 1 finger and push it on the right side of the drawer. This will make sure that it engages the micro switch.

You have got the gears out of alignment. You don't really want to take out brew group unless at end of cycle. You can fool machine to get brew group back in.
Here is how :

BREW GROUP REMOVAL AND DRIVE GEARS ADJUSTMENT
FOR AUTOMATIC MACHINES
If you ever find yourself in need of removing a Brew Group that has jammed. This will assist you in doing so correctly.

To fix this problem follow these simple steps:
You will need a #1 Philips screwdriver

1.) First, open the door on the machine and remove the drip tray and dredge drawer

2.) Locate the nickel size hole in the brew group. It will have an "N" next to it. At the 9 o'clock position, you will see another hole about 1/3 of the size of the first. Directly behind this hole, or about an inch up depending on the position the machine was stopped in you will see a single philips head screw. You may have to look around the side of the brew group to locate the screw as it is not always visible from the smaller hole. Remove this screw; it holds a small coupling water inlet (it is similar looking to a tobacco pipe) to the brew group.

3.) Remove the brew group by pressing/pushing (depending on your machine) on the part that says “Press" or "Push”. Pull firmly and straight out. Be cautious to not break the brew unit. Also be aware of the door of your machine as it can break as well.

4.) With the brew group out, remove the small coupling water inlet (tobacco pipe) that is probably still stuck to your machine and reinstall it in the brew group as it was before. Make sure the screw is installed snugly but not too tight.

5.) Turn the brew group around so you are facing the back. Now imagine what a check mark looks like, the top we will call position A (longer part of the checkmark) and where the checkmark ends (the smaller portion) is point B. You will notice what looks like a large checkmark where the coupling water inlet is located. The water coupling can slide up and down in this checkmark opening. The water coupling should be in the B position.

REINSTALLING THE BREW GROUP
To do this, the gears will have to be reset to the start position. In order to do so, you will have to bypass the three micro-switches (Brew Group, Dump Box and the Door switch).
Bypassing the micro switches:

1.) Looking at the back-side of the brew group, not the side that says "Push" or "Press," you will notice something fin-like or nose shaped. This piece fits into a keyhole or coin slot looking slot in the machine and that is where the brew unit micro-switch is located. Take something like an index card, envelope, or folded up piece of paper, and insert it into that keyhole so that it will trick the machine into thinking that the brew unit is installed. Start the piece of paper at the top of the slot and slide it to the bottom of the slot. The paper should be thick enough so you can let go and it will remain in place. Leave this object in there until the following steps are complete.

2.) WITHOUT putting the brew group back into the machine, reinstall the drip-tray and dredge drawer and close the door.

3.) After doing so you can then turn the machine ON. At this time the gears will begin moving until they return to the correct start position. At this point remove the object from the keyhole position and you can now reinstall the brew group. If the brew group does not go back in correctly, try a few more times. The machine will return to its home position. Note: The two large spokes of The brew drive shaft should in the Up position

At times, the gears in the brew drive assembly will not complete the cycle to the proper
start position for different reasons. Some of the reasons are:
• Brew group jammed or blocked
• Either one of the micro switches in the brew drive have gone bad.
• Brew drive motor Failure.
• Broken teeth on either of the brew drive gears.
• Dirty brew group, covered by coffee grinds.
• Brew group or gears not lubricated.
• Connections to the board from brew drive assy., or motor have gone bad.
A jammed or blocked brew group happens when the brew group starts the cycle but doesn’t finish it.

ok. Sometimes saeco has this problem and it can be a pain.
try unplugging it and plug it back in and turn it on with the door shut and all trays in position.
Sometimes it unlodges itself.
If this truely does not work :
remove dreg tray and push the brew group with the button (lever) pushed to the right inward. And now with the lever to the right still start wiggling while pulling outward. It can take a little but this should work. Don't be afraid to put a little force into it.
Check this SAECO or SAECO MANUAL
Let me know how you made out

You can remove the brew group by following the "how to remove a jammed brew group?" on this page http://cerinicoffee.com/Saeco_technical_documents.asp


For Cleaning Supplies and Saeco Parts visit:
www.cerinicoffee.com

I had the same problem. I apparently turned it off mid-cycle. The upper-left portion of the brew group stopped higher than it should have. I had to force the brew group out, breaking a small plastic cover in the process. I don't think that part's too important. Then I observed the orientation of the gears and visualized what orientation they needed to be in to re-install the brew group. I pressed all the sensors to trick the machine into thinking the brew group was installed and started the brew process. I released the sensors once the gears were in the necessary orientation. I re-installed the brew group and was back in buisiness.