I picked up a Captain Fantastic yesterday which was not fully functional. I have gotten it to the point of resetting, starting a game and playing. My remaining problem is that when the ball drains, the outhole kicker does not trigger, nor does the bonus count down or the ball count step up. With the ball sitting in the outhole, the game clearly thinks it is still in play. The switch itself is fine as is the outhole kicker (it serves a ball at start-up). I have gone through the score motor, cleaning and adjusting all of the switches. I also cleaned and adjusted all of the switches on the outhole relay and the ball count relay.

Part of my difficulty is this is my first rodeo with Bally em schematics. They are a bit different than the 1960's Wiliams schematics I cut my teeth on.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Realized I hadn't actually tested for voltage at the outhole switch. No juice. I am guessing I need to trace the red wire. Anyone know where it is supposed to end up?

Looks like it goes to a make/break switch at the bonus unit. I'm not convinced mine is built up properly. Could someone please share a picture of a functional CF bonus unit support clearly showing the switch stacks?

So....I took the switch stack off of the bonus unit to clean it. The insulators were all gummed up with something greasy. Testing the switch for continuity in all states I found (before cleaning) that there was continuity between the green/yellow and orange/red wires. The make/break also wasn't working due to the way the switch was put together. I took my best guess at putting it back together such that it will make/break as I would expect.

But....I still have continuity between the green/yellow and orange/red even when the contacts are open. And....startup now fails. Now when I start a game everything resets and then immediately steps through all five balls.

Here is a picture of how it is now. Looking from the top, wire/switch leaf order including insulators:

Fiber insulator
Orange/ red
Fiber insulator
Green/ yellow
Fiber insulator
Red/black
Insulator leaf
Fiber insulator x2
Yellow
Fiber insulator x2
White green
Fiber insulator x2

20181108_163257 (resized).jpg20181108_163334 (resized).jpg20181108_164703 (resized).jpg

As it seemed that there were multiple potential culprits and I am not savvy enough with a schematic diagram and jumper wire to diagnose an issue, I went with my em strength: cleaning, polishing and adjusting switches. Lamentably, this does nothing to improve my ability to diagnose issues with a schematic. So far, it is 100% effective, though.

It is common wisdom that upon bringing in a new game, one should check basic stuff like proper fuse sizing. Then there's the initial cleaning, waxing, etc. For an em (especially from a non-pinhead environment), I would add cleaning, polishing and gapping ALL of the playfield, stepper and relay switches. It takes some time, but generally results in a properly and better functioning game.

Suffice it to say that all of the switches in my newly acquired game are now clean, shiny and properly gapped. The machine clicks happily along, not quite good as new, but really really well.

Thanks for the helpful suggestions, as always. Captain Fantastic lives!