I just picked up a The Simpsons this last weekend, after being obsessed with it the year it was released. I love the game and the table I picked up is in great shape. One question - are all audits cleared when the batteries are replaced? For example, is there any way to determine total games played with any validity? If this game was built in December 1990, does total games played reflect all games played since that time, or does the concept of changing the battery void that number's accuracy?

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Well my The Simpsons now has a new El Barto plastic, ready to be broken again and my center nuclear tower pop bumper light was getting weaker and eventually died. This little jerk right here:

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After a bunch of troubleshooting (these lights are AC not DC duh, if I jumped the bridge without the diode the light worked fine) I was able to do my first ever diode replacement. The light works great now!

Crap, you're right. I am looking at DC *not* AC. I even remember saying that to myself when I didn't see any significant AC voltage.

I'm new at this.

In any case I hate diodes.

Is there any advantage to just arbitrarily upgrading the roms in my machine? I have a The Simpsons with ROMs B5-A6 and C5-A6. I saw A7 is out and about... but considering the thing is almost 30 years old there aren't any change logs or any appreciable info on what the difference is. Would there be a point to upgrading?

I think the last reply in that thread had it - a cap isn't charging. If you have good voltage to the board and something is slow getting going, it really sounds like a capacitor to me.

I did some cleaning on my play field and when I turned my Simpsons back on, half of my playfield lights were dead and my right slingshot was machine gunning when the game started, and the play logic went crazy - the game wanted me to start multi ball right after starting a game. I was panicking.

The leaf switch was closed on the slingshot and that was easy to fix, and that also seemed to cure the game logic issue. For the GI, the fuses were fine, and traced the section that was dead to the violet GI wiring, F4 fuse I think. After looking under the playfield and looking for any voltage on either side of the violet loop I went back to the power board and noticed the GI connector was burnt on pin 9 which held the violet white GI wire. I was able to cut back some of the burnt wire and put it back in the connector securely but I think maybe I should replace the connector.

Where could I find a 9 pin GI connector for a DE Simpsons?

I just posted this in the Alphanumerica tech thread but just in case, here it is here, too.

Hi everyone. I've read about this problem before and I've tried a couple fixes but it's not enough yet. The Princess Kashmir Right Vertical Up Kicker on my DE Simpsons is crazy inconsistent. Sometimes it kicks super hard for maybe 30 or 40 straight kicks, then it can't get the ball up the wire ramp for 6-10 straight kicks. It's really inconsistent.

I've replaced the ball cup since it seemed really worn and I have smoothed down the metal plunger with 220 grit until it is very smooth as mentioned in this thread:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/de-simpsons-weak-vuk

It wasn't that rough in the first place but I wanted to try some easier stuff first.

I have NOT changed the coil sleeves yet. I ordered some but they were not flanged. I just now ordered some flanged ones. That being said the sleeve seems to be in good shape, and the plunger seems to move very smoothly in it. The switch works great and is very responsive. The whole assembly is pretty clean. No apparent attempts to grease or oil the thing in the past.

I haven't swapped out the VUK assembly with the Bigfoot Left VUK, though I understand that's an option. I have not replaced the coil yet, although I have one on order.

It's just the inconsistency that's killing me here - so many times in a row that sucker will push the ball onto the ramp like it is brand new for 40 straight kicks, and then it gets weak for 6 kicks, then it's back to being strong again.

Does anyone have a good idea for the best plan of attack?

That's interesting because I'm going to order some newly powder coated rails soon, too. Thanks for the advice!