Ok, I'm pretty sure that my Spy Hunter Cheap Squeak is shorting and blowing the F3 4amp fuse.
I just removed the D6 Diode as it looked burned. Left that diode off the board but still the fuse blows.
I checked the continuity of the diode pin points to the TP3 ground and got a reading. (Board disconnected)
See photo.
So now if that means a bad capacitor, where do I start? The caps visually all look good.
Do I just start desoldering the caps one by one and see if the fuse blows?

My other thought is to use test clips to the incoming J1 connector until the fuse blows.
image-6.jpgimage-526.jpg

Here's my post on the troubleshooting
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/bally-spy-hunter-blowing-f3-4amp-fuse-wont-boot

Replaced the three caps and D6 Diode. Still blows F3.
Guess I need to replace the big cap too.

Puzzled? image-677.jpg

Replaced the big cap, 4700uf. Still blows. %#%$@!%^^#$@!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I then used an alligator clip to test each wire coming into the sound board.
The solid orange wire blew the fuse. Since this orange wire was the only wire connected to the sound board, my hypothesis now is that the orange wire is shorting with something. I wonder if I take that orange wire and touch a ground point, the fuse will blow. Either something on the board is allowing that orange wire to short to ground.
OR if that orange wire is supposed to touch a ground, then some other wire somewhere is shorting to ground.

I'm getting so close!!!!!

Thanks gents.
At this point it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
I tried to change the BR1 on the power board last night, but I have no idea how to get that desoldered and off the board? Anyone have any tips on how to remove a Bridge Rectifier off of AS-2518-54?

Thanks, I'll check the Transistors on the sound board. I'm trying to learn what components create shorts and would blow a fuse with just one wire attached to the board.

So far, diodes, transistors and caps. I'll check the C17 and C22.
Would the 5volt regulator on the solenoid power board be a suspect too?

It's very frustrating that nothing appears burned, blown or leaking. I tested all the diodes on the power module and they all check out. The BR1, I was told, can do funky things if one of its diodes is shot. I had extra BR's so I was going to just change it. I quickly learned that I dont have the proper desoldering tools.

Thanks to everyone for the help!

Thanks Andrew. I'm going to slow down and take a breather on this. I'm just really excited to get this back up and running 100% before the holidays so I can give this to my neighbor who wants their first pin. Also a shout out to a tech named Randy Gietzen of peakpinball.com here in Denver that gave me some tech tips! Thanks Randy.

About to check the transistors, still learning.
I checked the D4 and D5 diodes. They both showed .77
That's odd since they should show 0.0. All the other diodes show correct at 0.0.image-43.jpg
See pic:

Thanks for the schem Andrew, that really helped clear things up.
The #10 wire (+12V unreg) is grounding out before D6. (I left D6 off the board and the F3 still blew)
-remember, I connected just one wire to the board (J1- #10 +12V unreg orange wire)

That leaves C9, C10, C8 as suspects or something else before the Cheap Squeak board.

Should the C9, C10, C8 caps prevent the #10 wire from connecting to ground or do they normally allow #10 to touch ground?

If they normally allow the #10 wire to connect to ground, there is some other issue than the Cheap Squeak board.

We are getting close!

Copy that. I'm replacing the C10 if they have it at Radio Shack!
I'll report back on this tmrw.

Question- Radio Shack only has a 4.7 electrolytic not Tantalum.
Can I replace the 4.7 tantalum with a 4.7 electrolytic?
Both are polarized.image-919.jpg

Sorry to say but changing the C10 didn't do the trick.
The fuse did burn slower and the flippers energized a little.
The issue must be somewhere else that's ultimately causing this.

Time to call in the pros. Should I just send in all three boards?
(Solenoid, Cheap Squeak, Power Board)

-OR-, wait for the repairman?

D6 wasn't pulled. Back during my troubleshooting it was though.

G-P-E, when you say, measure a short between 12V and ground. You mean just take my DMM and measure between the #10 orange wire and ground right?

I threw in the towel, Randy is coming out on Thursday. I've moved on to tear down and shop job. I'm good at replacing bulbs and rubbers.

I will post what is wrong with the game here for future reference. Thanks to all for your help. I increased my knowledge and confidence on this troubleshoot. Thank you.

Update-
Thanks again to those who helped me on this. As a matter of fact, I now have an Elektra that I am using my new found Sound Board knowledge on (thanks to this thread)

Here is my Spy Hunter shop job thread for those who are interested
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/spy-hunter-tear-down-and-shop-job

The board is coming back from the Tech this week, we'll plug her in and see what happens!
A 6803 Controller Chip was replaced and ROMS.
I think there were several issues in play since we would remove the D6 and the thing would short and blow the F3. But after the Tech reflowed solder, etc, etc, we got feature sounds but no background sounds (Peter Gunn Theme).
I double checked to ensure that all sound settings were correct.
Stay tuned!

Update, the sound board works now! The tech, Randy, replaced the 6803 controller and U3 U4 eproms.