Simpsons Pinball Party - Garage door problems

darthphunk

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Hey guys.

I have a Simpsons Pinball Party and the garage door doesn't want to open up all the way. The coil fires in test mode, and during play it acts like it wants to open, but it doesn't quite get there. And if the ball DOES sneak under it, it gets trapped because it won't lift all the way to let the ball loose.

Poking around on the internets, most people are saying to replace it with a stronger coil. before I do that, I want to know more about how the coil operates the door. Does the plunger press up on the door itself? Looking at mine, it looks like the rubber stopper at the end of the plunger is hitting the hinge bar for the garage door first. The plunger doesn't seem like it moves smoothly when I move it manually with the power off. Come to think of it... it's probably hitting the crossbar when I am moving the plunger manually. Could that be my problem? Could I just take the rubber tip off of the plunger? I also read I can bend the bracket for that coil.

Any advice?

Thanks!

Attached is a crude sketch of my problem.
 

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Mine has this problem maybe 1 in 50 attempts. The plunger should hit the garage door. I slightly unscrewed the assembly from under the playfield and made sure the plunger was not rubbing against the wood and retightened. Also mine does not have a rubber tip, just the nylon plunger. I'm not sure which is the norm.
 
Mine has this problem maybe 1 in 50 attempts. The plunger should hit the garage door. I slightly unscrewed the assembly from under the playfield and made sure the plunger was not rubbing against the wood and retightened. Also mine does not have a rubber tip, just the nylon plunger. I'm not sure which is the norm.

I bought mine new in 2004. Mine does not have the rubber tip on the plunger. On my machine, the garage door was getting out of alignment. The door would move to the right and the plunger would rub against the assembly. I put a hard rubber wedge in between the door and the post next to it. The garage door no longer moves and it has not been an issue since.
 
I bought mine new in 2004. Mine does not have the rubber tip on the plunger. On my machine, the garage door was getting out of alignment. The door would move to the right and the plunger would rub against the assembly. I put a hard rubber wedge in between the door and the post next to it. The garage door no longer moves and it has not been an issue since.

What I have done in the past is remove the coil plunger assembly. Clean all items real well and use novus 2 or carnuba wax on the shaft plunger. Seemed to work well.
 
...I have a Simpsons Pinball Party and the garage door doesn't want to open up all the way...Any advice?

Stern tech support at 1-800-KICKERS now recommends upgrading to the stronger 24-940 coil.

PBL carries them.

- NM
 
Quick update... fixed the garage door. The coil bracket was bent a little bit. I bent it back and 99% of the time it opens. I'll probably end up replacing the coil.

Now... the ball won't kick up into the living room. It only launches after the ball search function. It's probably the switch. I haven't looked into it yet.
 
Weak Garage Door Issue checklist

For anyone who does a search on this issue something I found that hasn't been mentioned.. If the door opens but after a while it drops a bit..
Change the coil to the stronger recommended one. Verify solder joints are solid. Make sure everything is aligned (bracket isn't bent)and the plunger is touching the door but NOT holding it open at all (add a rubber shooter tip to the plunger end OR double sided tape to the rubber stopper on the mech to take up the gap. Remember the door has to have just enough play for the switch inside to activate when the door is hit.

Lastly (and this was my issue after verifying and upgrading everything)
Make sure there is no compression washer OR compression spring on the plunger. It's NOT needed and apparently some earlier models have it. Remove them both.

If none of these fix your issue, replace the TIP122 at Q20 with a new one (OR TIP 102) as the transistor may be weak.
 
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