No need to poke and prod and bang the machine, first you'll do way better to remove the rubber pieces on the two needles, if anything is clogged it's the little tiny screen inside the machine under your water resivoir but a tooth brush, vinegar CLR can do that, best bet, find something fits over that little whole that lets the water in block the return and blow through that ##&&% till you get $@$* coming out, then run a few resivoir if vinegar, lemon juice is great and I add salt cause it's does science $@$* to water