Malfunction 8
I just fixed it. I saw some info from a Doctor in Hawaii who described reaching up inside the machine with some success and this inspired me (Thanks!). I had been getting Malfunction 8 for some time, and letting the machine cool (turning it off) for 15 minutes was the only way to not get the error. It always sounded like it was "straining" to make coffee. It would generally try 3 times to clear itself before the Malfunction 8, I'm sure those with the problem will recognize the symptoms. All the rinse/ decalcify/on/off stuff was temporary. We lived with this for 5 months or so. Finally, it would only get a Malfunction 8, and so became unusable, and we were considering sending it in for repair. This was the second round of Malfunction 8 problems; the first seemed to fix itself for an unknown reason. On to the fix: Unplug, remove the water tank, pull out the bucket and tray, and allow to cool if necessary. Now - smaller fingers are better - reach into the machine, palm up. Feel as far back as you can, then work your way forward, toward yourself. As you move toward you will feel a flat area about an inch wide (measuring front to back). Just back of this (away from yourself), you'll feel a crack about 3/8" to 1/2" wide. Push your fingers up into this area and feel around. You will probably feel stuff that feels like light, chunky rocks. Break these up and they should fall out. Again, small fingers are better and once I got an idea of what I was doing, I described it to my wife and she did it. There is a tendency to not feel far enough back in the machine, so be sure to find the flat place at the lowest point of the mechanism then go just past it and up to find the crack. Pulled out about five crusty chunks of burned, almost charcoal like compressed coffee. I also got about a foot of plumber's tape (the metal stuff with holes in it that's useful for just about everything) bent it with a 4" radius, and worked it up into the crack to break up any stuff we couldn't reach. Work at this until no more stuff is in there. Now, tilt the machine toward you and "pat" firmly all over to jog anything left into the crack area, and check for chuncks again. When that's done, put everything back together, move the machine to where you can work from the top. Don't start it up. Get a flashlight and a wooden spoon. Open the top "pre-ground" door and peer in. With the wooden spoon handle, poke in there and tap everything to break up any stuck things. I thought a shopvac with a small tube might work here, too, but wasn't sure whether something bad might happen. Anyway, tap tap tap about 100 times. Now start up the machine. Keep peering in; watch how the mechanism works, and don't trap the spoon handle! Now, try to brew some coffee. While it's actually squeezing out the coffee, tap some more on the "closed" mechanism to free up any more stuck coffee. Do this whole procedure 3-4 times to be sure, but don't drink any of the coffee it brews: The first ejected puck looked really aweful - it looked like about 1/3 moldy coffee; of course the machine had been sitting for 3 weeks, probably stuck in the middle of a puck ejection cycle. Anyway, the machine should run good as new. Good luck and please comment as to whether it works for you. - Woody
