EM pinball machine problem. HELP

GreatBazunka

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I have a lucky ace pinball machine that is electro mechanical. It has been sitting for a while and when i went to play it recently, it turns on and lights up but when i go to start a game the ball does not get kicked out to the plunger. I fiddled around with a few things and got it to kick out for about 2 games but it is not working again. It seems like the game startup process works fine except for kicking the ball out at the end. Does anyone have any ideas for me? Your help is much appriciated. I just want to PLAY PINBALL so badly....
 
This was info I have received for you to try. Check that outhole switch, as well as the ball trough switches. It could very easily be a bad transistor on your driver board. You said it sat in storage, I assume you have did a bit of cleaning before you started playing? If not try cleaning it dirt, dust can be the culprit.
 
well not really sotrage. More like it sat in my room and wasn't played for a while. Maybe less then a year. It was working before i stopped playing it. I am going to buff all of the switch contacts. What you reccomend cleaning them with? Something like deoxit or just a regular contact cleaner.
 
This was info I have received for you to try. Check that outhole switch, as well as the ball trough switches. It could very easily be a bad transistor on your driver board. You said it sat in storage, I assume you have did a bit of cleaning before you started playing? If not try cleaning it dirt, dust can be the culprit.

No transistors...it's an EM. Do not use contact cleaner...use a point file or the business card trick.
 
OK here's an update. Last night i cleaned up all of the switch contacts, reseated all of the connectors, and reset any wheels/counters. Everything seems to be working independently but not together like it shoule be. Here is what i mean. There are two coin switches. One is supposed to give you two credits and the other just starts the game. Currently when you press the two credit switch nothing happens. The motor spins but nothing changes. When i press the other coin switch the game starts and takes off without a hitch. I can play a fully game and everything seems to work. The only thing is that when things reset after each ball, it does not always happen as fast as it used to. That just seems to me that things need to be worked back into good operating condition. Anyway, my main problem now is that credits dont register when i put a quarter into the 2 credit slot. The motor just spins a bit and that is it, no credits added to the counter and i can't start the game. I spent a good amount of time looking inside and the one thing i did notice is that on the switch stack above the pulse wheel of the motor, one of the little plastic spacers seems to be missing. I tried to put some paper in to space it out again but i don't think that was the right height. Other then that i can't really tell if any of the other relays are sticking or anything like that. Oh and the machine is a Williams Lucky Ace if that helps at all.
 
Are you sure the game hasn't already been set to free play? It sounds like some sort of modification has taken place if a coin switch starts a game? The button on the cabinet should start a game and that is all. I would look around at the coin door wiring and see how coin switch one differs from coin switch 2.
 
Thats a good idea, but everything worked fine before it sat for a while. now it doesn't work right. I only ever used the first coin slot becuase the second would send you right into a game. but the first coin slot did work to give you credits at one time.
 
So the entire game works fine except for the coin door switches? Make sure that the switch actuator is not shorted to the metal of the coin door, especially if you are pressing these manually!

What does the button on the cabinet do when it is pressed? It should start a game if the game has credits and nothing without any credits.

Perhaps you could just set the game to free play and not worry about the coin door switches if everything else is working?

http://www.pinrepair.com/em/index2.htm#free (see the Williams section)
 
Unfortunatly i would like the coin door to work. It did work not too long ago. I have it set to give 2 credits for every quarter you put in. Now when i press that switch things move around inside but no credits register and the credit wheel does not spin. I cannot press the start button to start a game, which i am guesse is becuase no credits register. As of right now. i have to open the coin door and press on the other coin switch every time i want to start a new game. This may work to get me my fix for right now, but it is not a final solution. Believe me, i have thought about leaving it this way but i cannot do that for long. As a side note, another thing i have noticed is that if i manually add credits to the credit wheel it will allow me to start a game with the start button.
 
Thanks for reminding me about that site. I totally forgot that i printed out all of their repair guides to keep with the machine. Its been a while since i have had a chance to work on this machine.
 
Ok so you know that you have something out of whack with the credit stepper (dirty switch), and possibly the coin relay. I know something is also wacky with the other coin switch as those are not meant to start a game!

What both switches need to do is:

Accept a coin (in this case a quarter = 2 credits)

Pulse the coin relay, which then probably runs the score motor a quarter turn or more, which then pulses the credit stepper/relay. Then you would have a credit and can start the game via the start button.

I would check the switches involved in this sequence, tighten the switch stacks, then adjust only if necessary. Is the credit stepper able to move freely? If its dirty, I'd take it out and clean it. Make sure the switches are opening and closing as it steps from one credit to the next, and back down when a credit is taken off the game.

Hopefully we are making progress?
 
OK here is an update. I cleaned more switches and relays. I do notice now that if i manually apply credits to the wheel, it will allow me to use the start button. But is does not always start the game. The score motor will turn a bit and then stop but the game wont start all the way up. Some times it takes two presses of the start button to get it going. Almost like it has to get around the wheels on the score motor to work. I did notice that there was a nylon spacer missing between one of the switches on the right most switch stack but i put a new peice in to space it again.
 
5 Years later and I am still having problems with this machine. here is a NEW update for anyone that happens to be reading and wants to try to lend a hand.

So off and on for the last 5 years I have worked up the nerve to mess around with this machine and try to get it working again. The innards of this beast are quite daunting and I usually get so far and then give up from frustrations. Well I can report that I finally followed the schematic and cleaned every switch and made sure that every stepper and solenoid was moving and reset. As far as I can tell everything is in order and working independently but here is the problem I am experiencing.

The machine does inconsistent, strange things all the time. I will try to walk you through a "normal" game on this thing. First I press the credit switch and that works fine to give me some credits. Then I press the start button and this is where the problems begin. Sometimes the game starts normally and the ball kicks into the shooter lane and other times it seems to reset everything appropriately but the ball never kicks out. If the ball kicks out then great, but if it does not I manually move it into the shooter lane and try to play a game. I begin to play and bumpers and buttons react normally but once I drain the ball it seems to run through the procedure of scoring and removing a ball from the counter. Then it removes another, AND ANOTHER. Sometimes is removes just the one ball, sometimes a few, and more often then not it removes all of the balls and tells me game over. This is all after just one ball....

Needless to say I am extremely frustrated with this, but not to the point of completely giving up. I just have to come up with (or have someone give me) a good idea of some other repair to try to help me work up the nerve to dive back in there and try to fix it. So please, can someone help me out here. I will try anything as I love this game. Also, I live in the South Hills of Pittsburgh PA if a kind soul out there would like to come over and help me out with this in return for some gaming and pizza :)
 
Follow the repair guide here:

http://www.pinrepair.com/em/index.htm

It's been revised since the last time you saw it.

Sounds like you have a coin door that was originally wired for 10 cents one play on the left coin chute and 3 plays for 25 cents on the right chute. The 10 cent coin switch has two blades. The 25 cent switch usually has 3 blades. Be sure the contacts are cleaned and adjusted properly on those switches.

When the 25 cent coin switch is at rest, the middle blade and rear blade should be closed. When a quarter pushes down the trip wire, the middle blade moves forward breaking the connection with the rear blade and then making a connection with the front blade. This should start the score motor and put up the amount of credits as determined by the 25 cent chute adjustment jack (2 to 6 credits).

The last Lucky Ace I worked on a couple of years ago had been in a fire and I had to file & adjust every score motor switch as well as file all the relay switches on the bottom panel.

One thing to also look at (due to the age of the machine) is the cleanliness of all the Jones plug connector male pins. Many times I've had to swab them with contact cleaner sprayed onto a cotton swab due to tarnishing or corrosion. That cured a lot of problems, especially intermittent ones.
 
Thanks allot. I will give that a try. When you say Jones plug you mean those big connectors with all the pins like the one coming from the back box to the body right?
 
Yes, the Jones plugs are on the cables running from playfield-to-bottom panel and bottom panel-to-backbox. The coin door also has a Jones plug on it.
 
So I checked on the coin switches and they are both aligned properly. Here is what happens in a bit more detail now. When I move the center blade of the $0.25 switch to the front the score motor seems like it partially turns but doesn't engage into a full start-up cycle. If I push the $0.25 switch a few times then eventually the score motor does a full circle and a new game starts but more often than not more balls get added to the beginning of the game then it is supposed to. Like it will count up to 5 then add a few more balls and the knocker sounds each time like when you get an extra ball. also I have already gone through the whole game and cleaned all the Jones plugs to be sure. so does this all bring anything more specific to mind?
 
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