Lethal Weapon 3
Data East, 1992You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider mahoyvan.
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Can someone take a photo of their ball-launch assembly?
The sleeve blew out of mine up into the playfield one game and I'm not sure what way to install a new one!
PS - Anyone know the dims for a new sleeve!? The manual I have lists everything in the assembly except the sleeve :\
How does everyone's fight mode work for them? Does it start easy then progress harder throughout the game, or is it completely random every time?
It doesn't matter how fast I rip on the flippers, I typically only beat the guy by a couple cubes. Sometimes I don't even fill half the graph before he wins.
Definitely not back handable on my game.
While watching that video, I noticed the top lanes do the same thing as my game - Go out when a ball get into an eject hole, then come back on shortly after.
Anyone else experience this?
Also... My ramp NEVER gives me free balls, how do you change that setting? I'm set to factory
Anyone load their game with LEDs?
I recently changed my mind and decided not to sell mine, so I think Im going to juice it up a bit.
Looking for some lighting inspiration!
Quoted from Buzz:Is that a color dmd?
No thats the reflection of the Uzi and Stunt inserts. Thought so at first too!
Those don't look bad at all! And I like the orange rubbers too... I was about to put an order in for blue rubber, until I saw someone with reds. I was going to switch my order to red, then saw orange. I don't know what to pick!
Quoted from Buzz:Oh and what brand are you using also please.
Not quite done yet but here a couple quickies.
Basically just got all blue Titan Comps except for shooter tip, which I went yellow.
I think all red or orange could look good too
Quoted from TxJay:If you go to Titans website look at the kits. I uploaded a standard rubber kit for LW3.
How recently did you do this? I checked for a kit last week and nothing. Piecing it together via my manual resulted in me having about 5 extra bands haha.
The volume on mine has been flakey like that too lately. Havent gotten around to trying to solve it yet, but read in one thread that it could be some bad connections at the amp.
Keep us posted!
Hey all,
Next time ya fire up a game, can you tell me how much your game is turned up on the dail?
Trying to diagnose a problem. At the moment mine is 1/8-1/4 from zero to be at a pretty acceptable level.
Thanks!
Just took a closer look at my volume dial. I'm just under 1/4 from zero, and noticed that there's 3/4 more it could go to max.
Turned all the way down to zero still lets a little bit of volume through, but not much...
My problem is, that sometimes out of nowhere the volume/music will go through the roof. Even turning it down to zero would still be quite loud. So I thought my first step to diagnosing the problem would be to see where everyone else's volume sits at for a starting point. I just thought that only 1/4 turn for reasonable is on the low side...
Quoted from cabuford:They made these things go LOUD. I'm assuming in a full arcade it needs to be. I dont think I was much past 1/4 either on a stock soundboard.
The only thing I can think of is to check the connector for the volume pot on the soundboard. If you unplug the pot, the volume is at max, so maybe that's loose? Or maybe your pot is going bad (or its solder connections are cracked). I installed a new one in my quest, I think it was only like $7
I wiggled the cables from the volume pot on the soundboard and that had no change in volume. The plug looks clean and fits snuggly. I unplugged that cable yup - VERY loud! The wires under the volume pot itself look clean and solid and have no change on the volume when wiggled either.
I have a DMM but don't know how to use it. Any suggestions as to how to set it and where I could probe around if the problem happens again?
Quoted from chuckwurt:I don’t think I’ve ever had an air ball on this game.
DE simpsons on the other hand......
My LW3 is air ball city!
Those look pretty awesome, I think I'll grab a set myself.
Wondering though, if it'll look better with the white space around the 3 removed... So just a 3 and the ring. Might try that first then apply the background after if it's no good.
Quoted from cabuford:I posted a video earlier in the thread, post #370. I can't figure out how to link to that post here.
Looks great! The more that time goes by, the more I want to put some money into my game and make it shine. I didn't know color dmd was available, what a difference.
My cab could use a little work here and there. Wouldn't mind converting to the black version, but it would be a shame to sand down all the screen art, which is more or less in decent condition.
I went $1600us(ish) and it needed nothing soo...
This game went on the chopping block a lot for me in the past but its still here. She got me through some rough times so i think its a sign haha.
Make sure the gun works, and siren if there is one.
Plastics are probably busted everywhere but easily replaceable.
There can be loud humming issues or spiratic audio levels on DE.
I like how each header has an arrow to the shot. The background is definitely busy, but workable. Maybe throw in a white rectangle behind all the text and drop the opacity down to 70%. You'll still see through, but give more definition to the text.
Quoted from fatality83:Am I the only one that is terrible at this game. My games typically go like this, plunge ball hit skill shot ball immediately bounces off skill shot targets and goes right down the middle. Plunge second ball hit a couple shots, get a hole or two, ball goes down left outlane is saved by the kicker, ball then goes back down outlane again after kicker turns off and drains. 3rd ball, I start multi=ball, two of the balls go down the right outlane, third ball bounces off skill shot and goes down the center drain. Total game time 2 minutes.
I just don't understand how I can have a 15 -30 minute game on Addams Family but my longest game of LW3 is about 5 minutes at best. I know its a fast playing game and I am not the best pinball player in the world. Anyone else do terrible with this game?
Im absolute garbage as this game too! My high score is 400m something but that was the first week I got it. I reset it after a good cleaning, and rarely get to 100m. Maybe it was on easy settings before, but that doesn’t make up for how quick games go by.
Love it
Definitely seen some on pinside but cant find them. At least not with my phone.
Heres a link tho with mods ive never seen before!
https://www.flipperfrance.com/threads/lethal-weapon-3-dernier-arriv%C3%A9.13036/
The Kick back coil on my LW3 started smoking a few months ago and I haven't had a chance to look into it until now.
At first inspection the plunger wouldn't budge at all. After taking it apart, it looks like the plastic section of the plunger melted to the inside of the sleeve. I threw the MM on and it measured 1.7ohm. This means it's cooked right?
Anyone ideas what might have caused this?
Now in regards to replacing this thing... My coil says AE-23-800-05 on it. "-05" isn't noted in my manual, and even so, -05 on the Marco site looks completely different...
Can anyone suggest an appropriate coil to replace this?
Thanks!
Quoted from Swainer80:I was reading the rules for LW3. Apparently during the multi-ball, if you get a second ball up the ramp before the first ball goes into the return lane you get a double jackpot. Further more If you hit the left orbit in a certain amount of time you get a quadruple jackpot. Has anyone ever achieved this or tried it?
Ramp once - single jp
Ramp quickly again - double jp
At any time get a ball in the left saucer, then shoot up the ramp - double jp.
Quickly get a second ball up the ramp - quadruple jp!
Best part of the game! I’ve managed to get two quad jackpots in one multiball before. This game might be pretty basic and shallow but its can sure kick ur ass, at least mine does!
Quoted from ChadH:What version CPU and Display ROMs are you running?
How can I tell what im running?
Diagnostics? Physical chip?
Quoted from ChadH:Note the versions on the very first two screens at power up.
Looks like I have CPU 2.05 and Display A2.05.
Any known issues with these versions?
- Bonus for getting 1,2,3 in order
- Bonus for doing a combo shot before the 1,2 or 3.
- Consecutive ramp bonus like Warp Ramps, but resets after a length of time.
- Video mode should start slow, then go faster and faster indefinitely util you shoot the girl.
Can we add another ball to the game or would that mess up the trough? I'm thinking for multiball:
Ramp = single jackpot
Lock 1 > ramp = double jackpot
Lock 1, 2 > ramp triple
Lock 1, 2, 3 > Ramp quadruple
Balls unlock - Repeat
2-Ball multi ball:
- Spinners build jackpot
- Lock a ball in 1,2 or 3 locks in the jackpot and multiplies it to its corresponding 1x, 2x, or 3x.
Ramp to collect.
Perhaps after you lock a saucer and collect from the ramp, that saucer is no longer available until the other two are used and collected?
The action scene videos are terrible. Is there something we change besides waiting for ..."Now!" !?
Quoted from ChadH:Found a bug in LW3 while digging around...
By the way, if anyone is aware of other LW3 bugs such as this, please let me know now.
I believe there's a bug linked to the 911 top lanes. Check out this video to see what I mean:
Notice they don't light for the first 20 seconds?
Then I've noticed in the past that mine go out when my ball goes in saucer 3 - Same as the video at the 30 second mark. Then they turn back on soon after.
Did you guys color match ur leds?
Im thinkin of doin a top to bottom on mine but might just warm-white the whole thing and caller a day
Quoted from gdonovan:I lose 90% of the time frankly.
I thought it was just me. So much so, I made a post about it a while back wondering if it was a setting 
So stoked for this new update, Im gonna start sinkin some cash into my player.
Tee’n up an LED kit to get things started 
Quoted from STLOkie:This all sound power supply related. You can check voltages as mentioned above, and recapping as needed. If you are not great at board repair you can send it out to a few specialist or even consider buying a new power supply board and simply swapping it out. Me, I just purchased a new power supply and it fixed my issues.
What brand did you go with?
Quoted from gdonovan:Yes, flip both ends though.
If an important line is broken, flipping the cable may change things pointing towards the possible problem. Just the fact of taking the cable off might even clean the pins enough for signals to get through and start working again.
Couldn’t flipping the ribbon, or misaligning them by a pin or two when connecting normally really fk things up!?
Quoted from Pin_Fandango:Well, well well....
I am stoked. Found what it looks like to be a home use only LW3 or at least it had been to then being relegated to the storage room for a couple decades. The game was recently purchased by a collector who got it to resell. I paid fair market value for it, he might have not not and such is life. We all win, because I got a good example I would have not been able to find if it was not for this person.
I have not seen one this nice in many years. After buying and selling so many 90s games, you can easily distinguish what is home use from a routed game.
The years of smoke , grease, and other commercial smells create what I call the 'pinball scent', and when you open one of these up they just reek of this and it is not bad, but it is not French perfume either, lol. The cabs also get this grimy black feel as if they were covered by a thin layer of accumulated dirt that is now bonded to the MDF bottom.
My game has NONE of this, and to my surprise - something I have never seen before - all the electronics in the cab are still covered by a cardboard type material similar BUT thicker than fish paper, which I presume is something the game ship with. So yes, it still seems to have original wrapping around inside coin box, etc.
What a gem.
Granted the cab is not perfect but it is a solid 8 to 8.5 out of 10. I would give it a 9 but I am too picky.
Had to cross the border to get it but I made it! Seller was kind to meet me halfway so it was meant to be... super happy to have my grail pin join the family.
This has been on my list for a few years now, but it was always postponed as I was not able to find a good one, these DE are always severely worn.
So happy, this has been in the making for 30+ years after I played for the first time in the Argentinian summer back in Jan-Feb 1993 while on holidays. I was just a little kid in the arcades and this game and T2 were my faves.
Great memories.
Pin is home, now I am in the tuning stages and looking at things that should have done many years ago. Luckily, the person who I bought it from did the LED on it, news translate and a few other things, just enough bling to sell it, including all new drop targets.
I have been working on it for 2d days now, cleaning the head, fixing and replacing connectors that were burnt or just crusty. I love doing this since I own all the OEM molex crimpers to restore all the connections to their original state.
I have also replaced the DMD with my own colour LED DMD, I made these myself. I have colorized dozens of games now and building the DMD is fun for me so I do it for all the OLD DMD era games I own, some of those games have been sold now but I have done Williams Indiana Jones, Terminator 2 just to name a few.
Anyway, the head is now done, all connectors that needed replacing have been replaced. Next, I will making my own driver board with one of DumbAss remakes, he has been making Data East and Williams boards for a while now and his work is phenomenal, I also heard that HEP uses these sometimes and he loves them.
I am so happy I found this game.
Today I will be replacing the power plug as the ground prong had been cut off at some point.
Next is overall clean, replace leg levellers, add new balls and just play it.
It will be a fun day.
Pictures to follow once it is all clean, it does not need much.
Hoping to see some action in this thread.
Pics or it didn’t happen!
My LW3 has always been a pain in my ass.
Sometimes the audio would just explode to max volume out of nowhere. Sometimes it would cut out completely or just repeat the “Back in action” over and over.
The DMD would fire up, but only after a couple power cycles. Sometimes it would go garbled after a bit, other times it would cut right out and not come back on until a power cycle.
I figured this all came down to a bad power supply, so I order up a new xpin unit. I swap it over just now and well… not much difference.
Took a couple cycles to get the dmd fully rolling.
Volume is way high, and only way to then it down is to rotate the volume knob the opposite way!?
When i get a game going the audio clips hard, i must have something backwards.
Anyone else with a LW3 + XPin power supply that could post a photo which I could cross reference?
Thought this would be a silver bullet, anyone have any suggestions!?
How do you test the volume pot?
I've read about keeping and rebuilding the boards being the best option, but the truth is I have very, very little knowledge in working on electronics. Working with a DMM would need to be spelt out step for step, so that's why I figured $150 is a far less painful way to nuke my problems!
New Xpin board. Anything stand out?
IMG_6156 (resized).jpg
Rottendog board. Are there any specific chips or cables that I should reseat? I've tried wiggling them all and didn't notice any cause/effect while doing so.
IMG_6155 (resized).jpg
Alright boys, how we lookin’ here?
9B482981-A98E-46B0-B2A8-09CD33DB1953 (resized).jpeg
That yellow crud seems suspect, is there a certain way to clean it up?
How do I go about testing this thing? Why would a new power supply all of a sudden cause the volume knob to work in reverse!? Clockwise should turn it up, not counter clockwise…Right?
Anyone know what plug I’m looking for to match this pin header?
https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/5791-10862-04
9FF3FD5D-4944-4D56-82ED-6B87083B15B3 (resized).png
Hey guys, I ordered a new potentiometer in hopes it will correct my insanely loud volume issue.
Question though… will it wire up exactly the same as the old one?
I’ve experienced that sometimes new coils and new target switches have the lugs put together in different orders than the old units.
I’ve been trying to tackle this problem for a long time now and continue to hit roadblock after roadblock – Any help would be greatly appreciated!
TLDR: Sound track and sound effects would randomly increase in volume or cut out completely or reset or repeat the Back in Action over andover.
I then swapped out the power board with a fresh XPin unit.
The XPin fixed the random reset issue, but then created two new problems:
1 – The volume knob works in reverse (clockwise now turns it down)
2 – The audio seems fine, but the sound effects clip so hard they sound like fireworks.
Since installing the Xpin, I have ordered and installed all new ribbon cables and a new 10k potentiometer volume knob and see zero change.
(Video uploaded with the most examples towards the end.)
3 – Wow, after checking out the video it looks like the bottom of my DMD is now scrambled too... 
Where do I look next? Why would the volume all of a sudden work in reverse!?
Quoted from harig:The volume knob in reverse: swap the two outer wires on the potentiometer
The volume knob worked normally before the power board swap. Then when i installed it, it all of a sudden worked backwards.
Is it possible something on the brand new board was installed backwards?
My LW3 runs fine for a bit then out of nowhere the volume triples, the start up speech comes in as a stutter - ba.ba.back.ba.back.back in action. The gameplay continues but sometimes the display will either freeze, scramble or black out and you’re only left with sound effects and call out.
Tried wiggling and reseating everything. Nothing
Tried new ribbon cables. Nothing
Tried a new xpin power board. Made the audio blaring loud- uninstalled.
The C8 connector looks newer than the others, and the bottom side looks sloppy. Is this solder job alright or should those pins not be touching at all?
The C9 connector looks a little toasty too. Worth replacing or am I looking in the wrong area for my problem!?
IMG_8934 (resized).jpeg
IMG_8935 (resized).jpeg
Just ordered a new DMM so I can get to the bottom of things. In the meantime, would there be any logical reason why a brand new XPin board wouldn't solve my problem? The audio is maxed out even though the brand new pedo is turned all the way down. The sound effects are completely blown out and distorted like fireworks.
Just got home from work, installed the Xpin again.
The score section/bottom of the DMD was scrambled for a game or two then seemed to correct itself. Audio was perfect this time around!
Then after about 10min of playing, it shit the bed and went back to resetting the audio. Volume went up to screeching loud, and lost the background music.
The board has a green led with D6 under it after i power down.
IMG_8944 (resized).jpeg
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York, NE