your shooter rod is too long and holding the ball out away from the two forks that shot the ball

too fix this you have to stretch out the spring on the handle end or the rod ie outside the cab , this will force the rod to sit not so far out and bring the ball down the trough closer to the two pieces that auto shoot

Did you strain any of the male board connectors?

If you have cracked solder joint (visible on the back of the board), you won't get a solid connection.

It might not be as obvious as this, but a faint ring of cracked solder is all it takes:

p6280102_zoom (resized).jpg

in program mode is the setting for coil power on firm or hard ?

Could the solder at the coil terminals be cracked?

Besides the connector solder points on the board, you could have cracked the traces near where you were putting a lot of force on the board.

The power source for the shooter lane and the lower play field are probably coming from the same colored wire that eventually terminates in to that connector you pulled on. Look to see what color it is and check for a loose wire. It is highly likely that you pulled or wiggled that wire enough to cause a poor conneciton to those coils.

One other thing you can try FIRST is to test for DC voltage at the shooter lane coil to confirm you have the proper voltage. Both lugs should have voltage... FOR THE TEST: Red lead to test each coil lug, black lug on your voltmeter goes to cabinet ground braid. Both lugs on all coils should have same DC voltage.

The only other thing I can suggest is that it's just an odd coincidence and both transistors that drive those 2 coils have crapped out. A VERY common problem with Stern machines but not likely in this circumstance (a simultaneous failure).

You said you originally had to use a lot of power to get the connector off. That's an IDC connector. Any chance you pulled on the wires and now you have a less than optimal wire connection in the IDC connector? If so, check your manual and see what wire(s) carry the + or ground for those 2 solenoids in that connector, then remove that wire and punch it in again in a slightly different spot on the wire so the IDC connector makes a new insulation cut on the wire. Be sure to use an IDC punch tool when reinserting the wire.

Exactly.

In that case, also reseat all connectors/harnesses in the lower and upper cabinet. Check the power at the coil first.

no, put the red lead in the far right hole of your meter. The dial is set correctly for DC voltage.

No, you have the red lead in the wrong place for a voltage test. You will probably create a short and blow a fuse or a transistor.
Move the red lead to the socket on the far right.

to ground?

Make sure the coin door is closed or the interlock switch is pulled.

Have you tried calling Chaz at stern tech and see if he can walk you thru it

call chaz !

not so far ! lol

Remove all your mods. Get it 100% back to factory and then start testing. I always suspect mods and rework.

Marc

This. Odds are you may be in the same boat as a buddy of mine where his mods were drawing too much power away from the rest of the machine.

woooo hoooo did I win ? If yes please donate it to pinside on my behalf

thank you