Quoted from BallyKISS1978:Well Elvira at 100%. Topper working perfectly now after I widened the gap with the dremel on the gargoyle base for the lid mechanism to go through. The mechanism is not getting stuck on it any longer and stays open the whole time when Elvira screams. Now can enjoy the game.
I did the same thing with my EHOH using a dremel to very neatly widen the gap and it was working better than before, however it would still barely open on occasion. In a nutshell the performance was inconsistent as the topper would sometimes open as it should and other times it would barely open.
I noticed that there is a bit of play in the metal plunger as it goes into the coil and there is no coil sleeve installed so I installed a new coil sleeve where none existed before and it has 100 percent fixed the issues with the topper not fully opening every time.
Without a coil sleeve installed the inside of the coil is slick hard plastic, however there is a little bit of slop or play in the plunger when it moves though the coil. With a nice new coil sleeve installed it removes the slop and I just did several tests via diagnostics and it works great. With the gargoyle securely installed I played several games and the topper opened up during multi-balls as it should and then via diagnostic testing I opened/closed the topper 20 times in rapid succession and it works perfectly with everything fully assembled on the topper.
I don't know if Stern missed installing a coil sleeve on my topper or if coil sleeves were not installed on any of the toppers, but installing a coil sleeve 100 percent fixed my inconsistent topper opening issue. One other tidbit, if the game is in attract mode, after 3 minutes if you press either flipper button the topper will open and Elvira will scream.
Gord
Added 17 months ago:
Just to update, it has been over two weeks since I installed a coil sleeve in the topper coil and I have played another 75+ games since then and the topper has worked perfectly every time during multi-balls as well as when I have tested it from the 'Diagnostic' menu. Adding the coil sleeve has 100 percent fixed the topper opening issue that my EHOH topper had prior to the coil sleeve installation.
Added 16 months ago:
I have played another 50-75 games during which time the topper opened approximately another 125-150 times with no failures. Since this fix has been applied I have had over 300 topper openings with a 100 percent success rate for a fully opened topper.