The Getaway: ramp down error

80scoinops

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Please forgive the noob questions here. I'm decent at troubleshooting arcade games, but this is a first attempt at tackling a pinball machine.

The Getaway is giving a "up/down ramp: down error" on self test. Everything else appears to be functioning properly. What are the steps or best practices to attempt a fix and get 'er running again? Thanks.
 
Step one: Crate it up
Step two: Send it to me
I'll cover all the costs, regardless.

My guess is the ramp in question is the ball lock in the rear, no?

I'd check and make sure it's moving correctly. It could be a solenoid issue perhaps? I don't recall off-hand how to test solenoids, but I think it involves resistance checks between 2 of the legs?

Someone will chime in shortly, I'm sure.
 
Please forgive the noob questions here. I'm decent at troubleshooting arcade games, but this is a first attempt at tackling a pinball machine.

The Getaway is giving a "up/down ramp: down error" on self test. Everything else appears to be functioning properly. What are the steps or best practices to attempt a fix and get 'er running again? Thanks.

Could be several things
2 coils on that ramp
one for up the other for down
first things first
run through the diagnostic tests and see if both coils are working or not
If one does not fire pull the glass lift the playfield and give a good visual inspection of those 2 coils, any wires broken off and just hanging there?
if so re solder it back on and run through the coils tests again
 
When you're playing it and lock is lit, is the back ramp staying down, or constantly moving up and down? If it is constantly moving, the up/down position switch needs to be repaired/replaced. It is behind/under the ramp, and is a bitch to get to.

-Mike
 
Thanks guys! It's not constantly moving, just sits there. I'll go through the tests and see what the coils do and report back.
 
Ran the ramp and solenoid tests. Both ramp coils sound like they're firing. If I'm interpreting the display correctly, the ramp is stuck in the up position.

Back to super noob questions - what's the proper way to lift the playfield? I thought it just pivoted at the back end and raised like a car hood, but based on how it moves when I lift it up slightly it feels like that might be wrong and maybe there's something else involved in propping it up. (I reviewed the manual and didn't see anything about how the playfield lifts up.)
 
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If the solenoids are working you might have a switch problem. Go into the test menu and pic the first switch test and see if there are any switches under there that are not activating.

Also to prop up the playfield pull it out all of the way and tilt it back. You should hear it click. Lean it up against the backbox.
 
Yeah, the getaway had this weird playfield mech, so you could get at the back stuff easier.

Go to youtube and search for the "getaway pinball promo vid". There's a brief clip in there that shows you how it should slide around.
 
Thanks again, guys! Got the playfield opened up. Wondering if someone screwed up the hinge mechanism, it doesn't look like it locks in place properly.

Anyway, got a look at the ramp switch, it was stuck in the up position. I was able to slide it into the down position and run the test. It would go up down up and stick in the up position. Repeated the test a couple of times and it did the same thing.

I'm guessing something there needs to be adjusted carefully... but what and how? Trying to avoid doing more harm than good. Thanks again!
 
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I read several yesterday, but it's not clear to me what needs to be adjusted or how. Like I said, I'm a noob to the pin stuff. :)

Under the playfield, there's an angled, silver metal piece that, as far as I can tell, keeps the up/down toggle in one of two places. Does that angled metal piece need to be bent one way or the other to keep the switch from getting stuck in the up position? The way it looks, I'd almost expect it to get stuck in the down position instead of up. Or is it something that needs to be adjusted on top of the playfield?

Would keeping the playfield open for a while and constantly triggering the switch help it "get back into shape," or is that a waste of time? Don't want my ignorance to risk breaking something that is working but needs a minor adjustment.
 
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A combo of manually freeing it when stuck and running the test seems to have cleared the error for now.

But now it's giving the well known "intermittent reset," typically just after multiball starts. Wall voltage checks out okay, so it's on to something else being the possible culprit. Days like this I wish I knew what the hell I was doing with pinball repair. Video games are easy by comparison, there are only a handful of things that can go wrong.
 
A combo of manually freeing it when stuck and running the test seems to have cleared the error for now.

But now it's giving the well known "intermittent reset," typically just after multiball starts. Wall voltage checks out okay, so it's on to something else being the possible culprit. Days like this I wish I knew what the hell I was doing with pinball repair. Video games are easy by comparison, there are only a handful of things that can go wrong.
have you browsed http://www.pinrepair.com/wpc/index.htm yet?
lots of great info on that site, tackle each problem one at a time.
 
have you browsed http://www.pinrepair.com/wpc/index.htm yet?
lots of great info on that site, tackle each problem one at a time.
Yeah, started reading through the reset section after eliminating the ramp error. The sheer volume of items on the punchlist is pretty intimidating from lack of familiarity. Hopefully it will get easier as I go along and have a better understanding of where everything is. No time like the present for learning.

Thanks again, all. I'll get this thing up and running yet. Eventually. :)
 
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