Picked up a filthy routed BBH with some opto switch issues, fluorescent bulb out, RAM kicker not functioning, and no sound.
The filthy playfield:

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Scummy ramp!

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Ram kicker mech not working: possible opto switch problem, mechanical problem or both?????

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Thanks Steve. The game is actually all fixed, shopped out, and beautiful. . I thought I would document the problems to help out other pinsiders. I'll be updating more later. Just hit a slowdown at work so I thought I would start a thread.

Yes I did get it off eBay. Guy was nice but was kind of shady. I don't want to get into that though on pinside. It is what it is.

The light bulb in the backbox wasn't working, so I put a new bulb and starter in the backbox and it blew immediately.
That meant the ballast needed to be replaced. Replaced the ballast with one from Home Depot for about $7 and then there was light.
Some pics of the old ballast

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Just a slow day/week/month.
Game is really fun and my kids like it.

I checked the wiring to the speakers, connectors, etc. I popped in a sound board from another game in to confirm it was a board issue and it was the board. I sent the board for repair. I am thinking it is the capacitors on the board but just a guess. I could have replaced those but didn't want keep spinning my wheels.

Now for the Ram opto issue: I noted both the RAM and the Bird Opto switches were both out. There is a board underneath the playfield that handles these. I was getting power to the board. I had some spare Stern opto switches I bought from Pinball life. I plugged them into the board and both switches were working fine so there was something wrong with the optos on the playfield. More to come later......time to eat and have to coach my son's baseball game tonight. Stay tuned.

That's like skipping to the end of a book and reading the last chapter to find out what happens. I have to tease a little bit.

Okay a little time before the game.

So the Ram opto had a loose wire. This was a simple fix. Splice some bare wire, desolder the pad and remove the old wire, attach and resoldered. Reinstalled and the opto was back.

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The Bird Multiball post opto was a little more difficult. The wires were fine so it took a little more investigating.
I tugged on the wires to see if I could get any response in switch test but nothing. I pressed on one of the opto LEDs and it began to work on and off continuously. Seemed odd. I removed it from the game to inspect it. At first I thought a cold solder joint but didn't see one. I then likely pressed on the the LED as I had before and noted the wires from the LEDs stuck out and the solder and pads lifted from the board. I tried adding a little solder but still the same problem. I ended up just replacing the Opto board instead of monkeying with it.

I tried to take a good pic of this to show what was wrong.

I still have a RAM that is sticking pretty bad and what I thought was wrong was actually not the case.
More later.

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So the RAM mechanism. I thought it would be an easy clean the mech/plunger and replace the coil sleeve kind a deal.

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Unfortunately I did take a picture but there is a pin that holds the plunger piece to the metal stop of the plunger together. The pin was sticking out about a half mm or so. The pin was sticking out enough to freeze the mech. A little filing and all was good.

After cleaning all the plastics, ramp and playfield, I used frost cointaker LEDs in the playfield GI. It really looks nice (not too bright). The playfield GI was very dark previously with incandescent lighting. I left the inserts with standard incandescent bulbs. I replaced the rubbers and used white. I waxed the playfield after cleaning and before I reinstalled the ramp with some Blitz Wax I got from PinballLife.

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I threw my wife out. She was just getting in the way of my pin addiction.

Actually, I am over stocked again.

Next I plain to restore my chexx bubble hockey game.

Clear job looks beautiful on that BBH playfield. Love what you did with the Chexx machine.

Here is my Chexx game in it's current state. Notice the cigarette burns on the dome corners.

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Here is the new Dome, ice surface and replacement men. I wanted to stick with the 1980s Russia vs USA.

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I got my chexx done.

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Chris if you go to the Chexx page you can order the guys direct. They are $99 a team. They also Clearcoat them for you. They have USA, Canada, Russia, and a bunch of NHL teams.

There is a guy on eBay that does custom players that run between $500-700.

Yeah no kidding.

Slap Shot would be a great theme.

What's with all the hockey talk? Go shoot some bucks.

CPU/SOUND BOARD UPDATE: I got my sound board back from repair and the U16 was replaced.

I now have sound.

Nada!

Nope! I asked them and they said they liked there notches in the carpet.

Cool. I'm glad it helped you out.
I have not done a SMD repair yet. I'm hoping to learn one of these days.