I did not follow this thread because I saw a bunch of posts and figured this would be cleared up by now. But it kept coming to the top. Giving a quick read through the thread I think everyone might have missed the simple solution.

Whenever the batteries die or are removed from the game when off if goes back to factory settings. With many of the System-11 games this also means you get "Adjust Failure" until you open the coin door. Press the advance button and get into the menu to clear. I know you have to do this on Earthshaker, High Speed and Rollergames so I think Wirlwind will probably be the same.

Go in, set to free play and save. Check the manual for specifics for this game. I think with High Speed you had to go into the settings and then back it into the test mode then save. But your game might be fine and you just need to clear this.

Now, after you clear the adjust failure and play a game you need to power the game off for a few seconds and power it back on. If it goes back to factory setting and adjust failure again then yes you are losing the RAM data or power to the RAM.