Was at my brothers for the weekend i knew someone was selling an Williams Expo on Craigslist,my brother had sent an email to the seller prior to my knowledge and said you want a pinball. Ummm OK..
Quick stop at the atm and its off to the races.

Here is the NJ resting area till he brings it up to me as i didnt bring my truck this time.

Some decent features on it.
A glutton for punishment...

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A little backglass flaking but overall its in good condition.
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_{Post edited by Pin-it: auto spell correct got me}

Thanks, more to fix is a good thing i think,cuts into playing time though.

Darn auto spell correction,
Yuengs and wings in about a half hour.

Thanks Vic.
Yes original paint is intact,in fact no carvings on it. Only bad spots that were worn in was the top outer backbox frame and the front of the coin door wood is chipped out by the right leg mount area.
The guy who sold it to me had it sitting in his garage for two years,but didnt get around to getting up and running and was apprehensive about working on an Em.

Yeah no lockdown bar or glass but 4 matching legs were there,plus no back door which happens to be trend lately, i think someone's hoarding them.
I have score on the lockbar ,already have a glass and will make a metal door for it with my sheet metal stash.

The backglass has some small issues but looks good ,the playfield should cleanup nice though as there isnt much wear on it. Plastics are pretty good . Coils papers were unburnt which is a good sign. Overall a great buy on it.

Maybe a rust epidemic on floorpans in cars.

Ok

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The leg area is the only real bad spot,but an easy fix.
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This should clean up well.
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The consumer reporter of Beer.
Gluten free is not for me.

Well its made its journey to PA on Monday (thanks Brother) and we assembled it on Tuesday,i had moved from where i bring them into the basement from outside to the the other section,wow i forgot how tight (2"-3" to spare) these Williams are.

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Got a manual and instruction/score card set from PBR as my brother was placing an order for his machines,great one less thing to chase.

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Before i go and take it apart i like to see what gremlins may exist,i give it a once over comb through to see what is hacked or broken first.
Now under the hood,found a few faults which was to be expected. The ball count unit was in need of a cleaning and lube so i got that done,3 score reels had the upper zero break switch not separating,Ok small adjustment and burnish all the score reel contacts are done.

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Some of the Game over relay contacts need a adjust/burnish. I also saw a factory b-w wire (photos above^)that was not connected to anything which was replaced by a blue wire for some reason? I will have to check the old oem wire to see if it has continuity and put it back to its proper spots.

The coin switches will start a game but the reset button is hit or miss so it l will look into the wiring and clean all the jones plugs to start with a fresh connection.
On to the back box the spinner wasnt working as i knew it wouldnt so a scuff pad over the tracers to get them shiny did the trick.

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The ball count unit has a small issue on one of the tracers,it was missing where the rotating shoe would stop to end the game for a 3 ball game no big deal as the 5 ball game over tracer is fine,plus i set all my games to 5 ball anyway.
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A couple of rollovers needed a burnish for features to work but otherwise its 95% running the other 5 being the reset button circuit.

Now this has me a little puzzled , i see it has its wires going to 2 game counters.
Is a diode to prevent backfeed?

Anyone know what this is?

_{Post edited by Pin-it: Clarification}

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I also assume one is for the total games played and the other for free games awarded.

I was^^ till i got the cleaning bug,apron off ,ball arch,perimeter rails,and partial depopulate is where its at now.
Tumble time is in stages for now, slowing momentum.

A little at a time.

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Sure is dirty.
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Hi Vic,
Well it was high tapped ,everything works just needed some contact cleaning to get it running enough to see if it all works, the pop bumpers are a little sluggish but after i tear them down and refurb the contacts and mechanical of them the dc power will be more than strong enough for me to remove it from high tap.
As far as play its got a lot of action between the backglass spinner , the up posts and ball gates, its a lot of features going on.
So far so good on it, all that it needs parts wise is a ring change out ,lane guides if they dont cleanup good,flipper plastics,cracked flipper bushing and pop bumper caps that are a little tired but they might cleanup,i lucked out that none of the coils are smoked.

I hate prop rods. What i do is use a nylon strap to hold it at the playfield end bracket and hook it to one of the backbox bolts,just dont tighten too much or plastics may get broken (you can use foam waterline insulators or foam sheets if you want)by pulling too tight. Also where the playfield contacts inside the cabinet rails there i attach 2 quick grip clamps on the rails in front of them to prevent the playfield slipping forward.

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Clamps at rails inside the cabinet.

Looks very nice to me sc204

Yeah some people fear Em wiring and functions,but i say bring it on. Love them when they dont work as its a great way to keep the mind fresh,the worse the better imo.

A little tutorial. Follow the lines.
A great thing about the Expo is you can fix some things and its still playable as seen here i took out the credit unit and it will still operate.

On the credit unit wiring you can check the knocker function by pressing the Normally open contacts (blue circle together for a split second to(with the coin door jones plug attached otherwise it wont knock) check the sound.
The yellow contact line is normally closed, as peg on the gear opens them it prevents the credit wheel from going beyond max credits.
The red line contacts are the normally open credit contacts ,credits after zero(when the peg moves away from them) will close them unless you slightly bend them shut for unlimited freeplay.
The green line is is used for the apron light to show you still have credits(its normally open )and will light when closed.

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Apron light.

The coin door can also be unplugged at the jones plug and disassembled (i did it for car extraction )and when setup on freeplay as mine is now you can fix the coin door switches as its easier when the door is off and the machine will still fully function.
Great for a working project (and those that cant wait to play )as you can work on it and get other things polished ,cleaned or rebuilt.

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Also when you bend these[red line- inner most contacts on the left flipper button] shut it will activate the lock relay as though you pressed it to turn it on,i prefer it this way that way in case you forgot its plugged in and start working on the circuits you dont get zapped or killed.

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Now this where i am at , some tumble action has been used.

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Well i had time to strip it down because it needs a cleaning.

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↑Phony did it↑? ok
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The bell is in beautiful condition.
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A rat was here,another reason to clean it.

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Legs off and ready for an outside cleaning tomorrow, weather permitting.

Thats where i start first ,i like when the machines on/off switch is turned on and it lights up rather than pressing the flipper button cuts down on having multiple switching(less to worry about), plus it does not do any damage and can be reversed.

Ok ,morgan can you unplug the coin jones plug (follow the harness from the coin door to inside the front of the cabinet and evenly separate the plug as the coin switches may be whats doing that reset,dont worry it will run fine without it,its just a process of elimination. You can go back later and repair the switches if needed but for now i would do that first.

Just watched your video up to the score reels and not resetting,that score motor will run like that until they all reset to zero.

I had the same issue,the reels slide out one by one if you push a tab and pull gently they will come out,you need to either clean and adjust the score reels leaf switch contacts, a common issue or unless you have broken wires at the reels leaf switch solder connection or both but we wont know till you look them over.

When you pressed the reset button,thats normal for adding up to the second player and not step down to player 1 after pressing it again,in order to step down you must turn the machine off,then on and press the reset button again,it will then go to player one and then another press player two then stop. But the score reels contacts have to be cleaned first other wise the sequence for the game to reset and play will never work right.
Basically you have multiple issues going on,but a step by step approach should work fine to get it running proper.

I would read this to get you up to speed on the tools and dos and donts with Em pinball machines first. http://www.pinrepair.com/em/index.htm

I will get some photos loaded tomorrow on the score reel contacts and the removal clip on them,then we can see what you have.

The reason i had you unplug it is that people add games with the coin door switches and they get bent up adding games sometimes till it maxs the credit wheel,like i said above it wont hurt to leave it disconnected for now. One less problem to give us trouble. You will see in the manual when you receive it how the switches should be set.

In the backbox you have a ball count/player unit combo as seen in your image above [ball unit JPG] it looks to me as not fully reset,look at my IMG 6037 above to see what a full reset looks like. Possible problems with yours could be spring return pressure is not enough,or a binding shaft could do it too.
Have you cleaned and lubed the Bc unit rotating parts?
Usually 2-3 winds of the torsion spring should do it,if you move the pawls away from the gear you should be able to rotate the spider fingers anti-clock wise till it stops then release the spider and it should return (just enough to reset) to open the contacts with peg.
Clean and lube as required.

Also the one finger look slightly bent [the one with the black dot on it]and you should match it to the others that look ok from your image.
The following is the description for a five ball game: Note* if yours is set for three ball then its the same as five but two less short steps.

Now when thats finished you want to start/ reset for a two player game and press the Ball/player units step up coil and watch the spider stop at each tracer and also if the bulbs in the backglass are working you should see ball one for player one,then player two should light with the step up pressed in showing ball one on player two ,then press again you should get player one ball two and press again player two ball two..... and so on till player two ball five is reached ,then the next press should go to game over.
Results?

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Here is an illustration of the unit.

This one?

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If not, load an image of yours to compare.

With the machine unplugged i would look at the fuses and fuse holder for corrosion,if that doesnt do it then i would move on to the jones plugs and give them a good cleaning w/sandpaper or a nylon scuff pad.
Try that and see if it works first.
If not look at the wires soldered to the jones plugs [ IMG-6021 above i removed that non Oem wire] as they can come apart and be held on with a few strands of wire[quite possible the intermittent issue too],which means you will have to resolder an unfrayed section in its place by de-soldering the wire in the pin and cut/strip a new end, then apply solder to the wire end ,heat up the pin and reapply more solder. Always fun....

Also check your tilt relay for clean and continuity as the light circuits pass through it too,there are four normally closed contacts and three normally open on it.
And check/clean the Game over relay,three normally closed,two normally open,and one make and break.
For setting a base line its a good habit to clean those relays when bringing a machine back from sitting a while.

_{Post edited by Pin-it: additional info}