You might be better off starting your own troubleshooting thread. There could be a handful of possible causes, which may take a little bit of troubleshooting to suss out.

Have you checked the fuse for the ball release solenoid? Does the ball release solenoid (9) work in test 17? Are 3 balls loaded in the game? Are all the connectors to the driver board good? Does the ball release coil plunger move freely in and out? Does the 3rd ball switch work in switch test 16?

Steve
System 80, not just a job, it's an adventure

Anyone have the link for the great planes bifurcated pins needed to replace on some of the edge connectors? The pin wikinlink has the discontinued ones. Thx

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Unfortunately, they are no longer available from any supplier I've seen.

joined this special club a few weeks ago. i have "the right stuff".

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Their web site isn't always complete, best to call or email PBR when in doubt.

The fuse was blown out so I replaced it. Once I replaced it, one of the three balls would release from the trough when starting a game, but the flippers still wouldn't flip. About 30 minutes later, I smelled something burning. Sure enough the fuse blew out again. I'll check the connectors tonight. Could bad connectors at the driver board be a culprit for the fuse blowing out?

From your info above, I don't think so. More likely, the controlling transistor for the ball release solenoid is on its way out. It may be under the playfield, on the driver board or both.

Steve
System 80, not just a job, it's an adventure

Where can I find this. Someone make me one with Marco jig?

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Steve, mod arriving this week...the pin wiki never shows where to make the holes for new bracket...any more info?

I don't recall needing new holes for mine

The switch bracket comes with mounting holes that line up with existing solenoid bracket screws.

Steve
System 80, not just a job, it's an adventure

On the pin wiki pic one on mod he mentions measuring for holes. Maybe that's fir making the bracket. Since I bought bracket I may not need this done

Yes, that originally was the idea, to show how to make a mod bracket. Then, I decided to have Cliffy make them to save time.

Steve
System 80, not just a job, it's an adventure

where do the blue wires go? I see one on each tab of the eos switch but where on the flipper coil? thx Steve

Not a BH, but set up in basically the same way:

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Here's one from a BH:

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Hey guys!! I finally picked up a really nice example of one of these and I have questions, if you don't mind? The machine is having issues and I can't get a game to start, with that being that this game is so problematic in stock form I honestly don't feel like fooling with it electronics wise because if I eventually do fix the issue I may just have more down the line and Id rather prevent that right from the jump. So, my factory boards are clean and hack free. Should I just send them all out to be refreshed, and if so who is the "go to" Gottlieb board guy here for Sys 80?? Or should I just go all Swemmer?

First, don't panic. Second, don't be so quick to throw money at problems--it's usually best to try to narrow down what the problem actually is first.

Does the game go into attract mode?

The game might not be set for free play. Can you add credits by pressing down the lever arm on the coin switches on the coin door?

I wasn't really trying to throw money at problems perse', I just would rather put a trouble free setup into it and be done resulting in zero issues in the future. I got the machine so cheap that even if I did replace all of the boards I would still come out ahead.

The game goes into attract. When I got it, it already had 25 credits on the counter. When I hit start I hear the first tone that you are supposed to hear and nothing else, then the two ball eject coils at the lower playfield fire one at a time. First the left coil fires and then the right coil that shoots the ball up the re-entry tube. The first leaf switch that is under the ball trough will not energize the first coil to push the balls into position to be dropped into the shooter lane even though that coil tested as good. All of the balls just stay in the trough bunched up under the apron since they aren't being moved into position behind one another. The game seems like it starts, but nothing on the playfield functions except for the lighting.

There are two coils that are responsible for moving balls through the trough. One of them might not be firing.

Check the fuses under the playfield with a multimeter.

Take off the apron and make sure the lugs don't have cracked solder joints. Also make sure that the plungers move smoothly through the coils.

Yesterday the very first thing that I did, I went through the entire machine and checked every fuse individually. I found one bad F21 which was for the right pop bumper I believe. I switched that out for new. If I could somehow I would like to post a video showing exactly what it is doing.

Feel free to upload a youtube video and paste the link.

Did you take off the apron and look at the coils and check the plunger movement?

The game won't start till the 'trough full' switch closes telling it all balls are in place. Otherwise it'll just 'ball search'. Does the outhole kicker and switch work in the test mode? If you manually load all three balls into the trough (not outhole), does it start a game?

Yes, the apron is off now and plunger movement is smooth on both. The machine was professionally serviced once a year with the previous owner, but over the last two years it has not been serviced. Just giving you guys an idea of the life that it's had as of late. It's straight out of a home and not a barnfind.

Correct, I am aware of how the trough switch is supposed to function,but it is not functioning from the weight of the balls depressing the switch, even though the leaf is closed due to the balls being on top of it. I have not put the machine into test at all since I have yet to search for a manual. I do have the time now to do so. If I manually load all three balls it will not start a game, the game however does start without ejecting the balls into the shooter lane.

Okay fella's give me a few minutes and what I am going to do is show pictures of what is going on step by step and possibly video...

Okay, let's start with the first symptom. During attract mode this small coil underneath of the lower playfield, all the way at the bottom in the lower left corner opens and closes itself every five seconds. The only way to stop is is by powering down or starting a game.

I forgot to mention, yes I have already re seated all connectors in the machine.

Here is video of the symptom..

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This is a vid of what the game does after you start a game....

If you press the test button till you get to 17, that's the solenoid test. 18 is switch test. Switch 15 is outhole, 25 is the trough

At 17 solenoid test I get 1,2,5,6,8 and 9. I get no response from 5, and 9 operates the first coil in the trough which actually works, but it is extremely weak. It can barely move one ball let alone 3. The switch test at 18, I get zero response from any of the switches in the machine.

Does #18 display a number at all? I think it should display 99 if it's not sensing anything. Don't have access to my BH at the moment...

Hey all,

Noticed the chasers in back box weren't working so I opened back box and checked A10J8/P8-1 and A10J9/P9-1 but they were connected and looked good.

With backbox open I smelt a slight burning, turned machine off and ended up finding J4 was very hot. One wire seems to have corrosion and is very brittle and hard. All others feel soft and don't seem to be affected. Maybe I got lucky and only need to replace the one wire...

I'm still waiting for manual in mail, curious to what this drives/controls?

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That wire looks to have been that way for a while judging by the green corrosion on the exposed strands.

Which wire color is that? Connector seems to be a fairly random collection of stuff...

As for the chasers.... Pin 2 of A11P1 is ground, pin 4 is 5V, (3 is the missing pin), do you have voltage there? The chaser board works by grounding one of ten sets of lights at a a time, each set corresponds to one pin in the A11P2 connector. If you remove that connector from the board and just ground one pin, does that light turn on?

All the wiring for the chaser lights goes through A10J9, so also check that connector. Pins 2-10 are the same as A11P2, pin 1 (orange red red) should be 6VDC

Wire color is purple/black, connector A12-J4..

I'll check voltage at A11P1 tonight. A10J9 looked good- I'll check again.

Am I okay turning game on with A12-J4 unplugged?

black-purple-purple (pin 7) goes to the regular backglass lights (6.3VAC), returns through the black-black-black wire (pin 8). Assuming my tracing of the wire across four sheets of paper is right... The wire next to those two (orange red red) eventually reaches A10J9 and powers the chaser lights (as well as the shoot again, game over, and high score lights, do those work still?)

Also routed through that plug is one of the sound lines (I don't even want to know why the sound line goes through the backglass panel and back...) and some 5VAC and 3VAC whose purpose I'm not sure of. Personally, I'd just replace the whole connector and repin everything to be safe, but if you want to play the game and don't have the parts on hand, I'd cut the bad wire on both sides of the connector (which will kill your backglass lights), so that you're not putting any more stress on it. (if you want to cheat you could probably just take those two cut wires and wire-nut them together)

I do remember the shoot again and game over lights were working along with the rest of the backglass. Just the chasers weren't.

I'm going to cut away the corrosion wire(female end)and see what I have.. the male end of the plug didn't have any corrosion and looked to be in good shape, I'll take a closer look at it after work. Thanks zacaj

Started teardown of my lower field today. Good amount of white oxidized metal Parts, but I've been doing an acid treatment to them and they are all coming out as good as new. She was pretty dirty as well. Next will be Mylar stripping, remaining teardown, and then prep for 2 part clear coat.

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Try using evaporust instead. It's much gentler on the parts and not caustic.

I have, and Evapo Rust works awesome on rust for me, but is to slow for these deposits. This acid has 90% less fumes and is environmentally safe. It also works instantly. I just submerge the Parts until the chemical action stops, then rinse. I will then polish them and apply protective coating. These parts were chalk white before dipping.

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looking for anyone that can help me locate the wireforms that go on the upper orbit and lower pf...Mine are broken. Pin resource is out of stock. I bought the wire jig from Marco but have no clue how to begin to get the shapes correct. If anyone can point me where they are. They are identical so need 2. Thx.

Anyone have a source for some nice colorized instruction cards for this?

Nevermind got'em!!!! On another note, can LED's just be installed into BH, or is there some sort of mod that needs done first?

Gotta love that non adhesive Pop mylar!!!

Clive @ coinop just finished all my BH boards Just need to start cleaning the game up. Only has taken like 3 years.