I have an Oster automatic coffee maker that I've had for about 2 years and lately I've noticed the water doesn't come out as hot as it used to. The coffee turns out lukewarm and kind of bitter. Could it just need a deep cleaning or is it already breaking down?
I had exactly the same thing happen with a coffee maker I used every day, and before throwing it away I gave it a cleaning with white vinegar and it worked again. What happens is that limescale builds up inside and that reduces the temperature - it's not that it's necessarily breaking down. Try filling it with equal parts vinegar and water, let it run like it's about to make regular coffee, and then run clean water through it several times. If it's still lukewarm after that, then it probably does need repair, but most of the time it's just that.
Do you use tap water or distilled water in your coffee maker? It's most likely limescale buildup on the heating element, like the previous answer says, but before you do the vinegar cleaning try this: fill the reservoir only halfway and run a complete cycle without coffee, just to get hot water circulating through the whole machine, then repeat with white vinegar for about 15-20 minutes letting it drip through slowly. That usually gets the temperature back pretty well because limescale doesn't just reduce heat but also slows down the whole flow of hot water through the internal pipes.
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