Love!! i need that.

Sweet guide! I've washed other parts in the dishwasher before and circuit boards in the bathtub lol but never thought it would be ok to put all you did in the dishwasher. The results look great! Those coils must have had a more plastic based wrapper though, I doubt a paper wrapped coil woild fare so well, or at least the wrap wouldn't.

How did the decals fair on the other side of those drop targets?
Funny guide by the way

Oooooh this is just in time... I didn't have time to wash the harness from my Big Hurt rescue over the holiday, but I'll be trying it this week, maybe even tonight...!

I've used a similar method and had great luck - but I always ran an empty load with more detergent once my stuff was all out of the washer to make absolutely certain I wasn't caught

my wife would more than kill me...

Will it Vid? Will it? LOL!

I don't own a dishwasher due to our small kitchen size... NOW WHAT?!?!?!

P.S. Great job on the guide!

I use numbered stickers like below, I guess i should put these on something and run it through the dishwasher to see if theyre safe

I actually bought the large vibrating tumbler from HF tools. I "think" the bowl can handle liquids.

Blech, I'd never put these where my plates go. (Especially the nasty EM cloth ones)

Community washing machine? Much better...

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Are you just soaking or running the machine? I would be afraid the wires would get caught up in the motor or something...

I ran it on delicate for the 30 minute time slot it gave me, through two spin cycles + a rinse and even took all the plastic pieces off (those are not zip ties/plastic btw, they stayed of course) and threw it in the dryer since most of it was cloth (EM harness), but to save the insulated wires for the 120v I didn't leave it in very long

It was pretty compact though, I don't think I'd put ones in there where every wire is super stringy. Definitely took a leap of faith but it turned out fine. It did lose a bit of it's shape though, which is slightly annoying putting it back together (saving a parted out machine, everything was cut from the harness) even if you have a schematic, it would have been nice only to use the schematic to "double check".

Welp, I always knew this day would come...

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Friggin' Gottlieb and their tank-like build quality... when I removed the harness I simply unscrewed the mounting brackets from the PF, but damn... on Big Hurt at least, those brackets must weigh over 10 pounds combined! Took me another hour to remove them all and label the coils.

Actually the coils are probably the least of my worries because if the labels on all the Molex disconnects come off, I'm well and truly screwed!

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But, since I had to remove all the brackets and mount plates anyway, may as well throw 'em in and see what happens.

I do have one advantage though:

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Zee wife, zometimes zhe iz pretty kewl. Like tonight. See those dishes in the sink, they were in the washer pending a cycle... I took 'em out and piled 'em there. They can be bathed AFTER my harness is done. Our next meals might be pinball-seasoned! Mwuahaha.

Excellent write up as usual Vid. Can Gottlieb switch stacks eg Ax, Bx and player control motor be put in as well?

You're not alone

Well technically I purchased the dishwasher and installed it. It was a very expensive piece of equipment ($1200 at the time) so I am not sure I would want to get all of the crud into it. Since the dust may contain lead couldn't that be bad for your dishes afterwards? I mean it cant all get flushed out.

Your dishes don't care about lead poisoning, the people eating off those plates might be a different story. This is the only reason I have never done the dishwasher method. I am generally not a "nervous Nelly" but putting lead, lead/dust into a device that will clean items I and my kids will eat off of? No thanks. I would be willing to bet you can not find one poison control expert that would endorse this practice. Do I really think there is a danger? Probably not. However, I doubt you can find any research that shows that it is safe because lets face it, the general population would not consider putting lead into a dishwasher

Entire circuit boards with chips, etc. go in too? Anything special to make sure everything's dry before power up?

Heated dry in the dishwasher?

Would have thought you would have mentioned that earlier on in the post, if you were somewhat concerned (or even remotely questioned) about the possible lead contamination that you tested your dishwasher. I'm sure you thought others may have had the same thought? Glad your swipes came up clean, but I still doubt you will find someone in the poison control industry who would be OK with putting lead (not contained in a glaze) in a dishwasher. Not trying to sink your process here, just think people should know of the potential risk that they might not have thought about.

We have a survivor!

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Thank Zeus, the paper Molex disconnect labels (Gottlieb probably put 40 of them on here) survived! Looks like the few casualties were the labels on the flipper coils - which were probably replacements and so used cheap paper instead of "masking wrapper" - and a couple other random coils. Most survived just fine. There's no trace of the coil paper in the washer (gone just like the paper labels on pickle jars and beer bottles ha ha). Only straggler parts in the bottom were a couple loom clips that slipped off.

But being the idiot I am, I forgot to ID tag the coil wires with blue tape. This is because I originally tagged the mounts / mechs / plates with Sharpie... only when I realized they were just collectively too damn heavy and bulky to fit in that top rack, the subsequent hour+ of removing them all pressured me for time and distracted me from remembering the tape. Instead I'd marked the coil ends with Sharpie, but that washed clean off the nylon!

Ironically though, the Sharpie did stay on the metal parts (as I originally intended), so hopefully I can puzzle this out with the manual.

If this were a WMS game no big deal since apparently WMS only knew like 5 coil specs ha ha... but I swear there's at least 20 coils on this GTB Big Hurt harness and not a damn more than two or three are alike

Anyway, at first glance I can say it was worth it: no more grimy coatings, no crusty dirt; the few leaf-style contacts look cleaner and the bulb sockets are especially brighter. I washed the coil sleeves in the utensil basket for the hell of it and they are much improved as well - not perfect owing to poor spacing, but I can manually clean them easily. They were in good shape so now I don't have to spend an hour comparing sizes and flanges and part numbers for a dozen different sleeves.

There's some trace crud in the washer but nothing a quick rinse cycle with a vinegar bath wouldn't handle.

10/10 would do again if I have to. Thanks Vid!

I dont see the need to label anything.. just take sufficient amount of before pictures and you will have no problem putting it back together. The wires have "memory" in that they will lay out out how they have laid out (more or less) for many years. In my restorations worst issue usually is an inlane switch or lamp reversed. Just test the game before installing all the topside parts and you can quickly confirm everything is back where it should be.

Thanks Vid for the guide. Usually I soak the harness in a large rubbermaid box cover and soak it in Bleache Wite equivalent like purple power or simple green but this is just to easy not to try. Funhouse harnesses going in the dishwasher soon!

I absolutely love the way the things look coming out of the dish washer, but I just can't bring myself to do it either. Just doesn't sit well with me. Great thread though as usual. Guess I'll have to spring the $299 for the big ultrasonic cleaner!

Dear Vid,

My first time trying this tip, I used powdered detergent. Overall the result was good, but I had some soap residue stuck in some tough to clean places. My plan is to try liquid or use less powdered detergent next time. Any suggestions to make sure ALL the soap is rinsed away? (I did not use the pots and pans cycle)

-mof

I'll do that from now on as step 2 for good measure.
-mof

Thinking about trying this with my Nine Ball restore (https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/1980-stern-nine-ball-restore-seshpilot). More than anything though, I'm grateful for a Vid-approved guide on how to actually wash dishes correctly in the dishwasher! Thanks again Vid.

OR get a second dishwasher for less money..

Amazing Vid!

I'm starting a total restoration soon and your threads are invaluable - playfield thread was great but this one is even better it's the one area I was a little concerned about but I'll be following yours posts in this thread step by step, thanks man appreciate sharing your knowledge in such a detailed way to help people like me doing a first time full restore