OK, so there isn't a snubber relay for solenoid #6. Also starting a game and grounding the driver transistor will not light the flashers, it should have fired the knocker again. For the flashers to work you would have needed to ground the transistor for the A/C relay and the transistor for solenoid #6 at the same time.

Now to fix your issue, remove 1J-11 connector from the cpu board, find the grey/blue wire on this connector. Does it look damaged at the connection point or loose? If good then turn on the game and use you jumper connected to ground and touch it to the grey/blue wire. Does the knocker fire? If your jumper is too big to make contact with the metal on either side of the wire in the connector then get a paper clip and clip the jumper to the paper clip and use the end of the paper clip to touch the connector. If you still are not hearing the knocker, look to the upper right corner of the back box and see if both wires are still connected to the knocker coil. See if the plunger moves freely. Use a DMM set to DC volts and place the black test lead under the ground braid, use the red test lead and check both lugs of the coil for voltage. What did you read on each one?

That looks great. It's on my list this winter for my F-14. How hard was it to install with the targets and such still sticking up? I was under the impression you needed to remove it all.

I ended up dropping all the targets. There was nothing on the playfield when I installed it.

Any F-14 owners interested in this model. It's still in the original factory sealed box. It's 1:48 scale so about 15.5 inches long. PM if interested.

IMG_0279 (resized).JPG

I have a couple spare original F-14 pinball manuals if anyone needs...PM me.

A trick to do, is to use a small #6 hexsmwh screw, and screw it next to the area where the
wire form breaks through the bottom of the playfield.
A #4 hexsmwh might also work.

Grumpy,

After being out of town for the better part of a week I finally had some time to go further on this. Pulling 1J-11 and looking at the grey/blue wire revealed that it had slid out of the connector just enough so contact was not being made.

I fully removed it and grounded it and the knocker fired as advertised.

I'm going to look for and/or order an IDC insertion tool and permanently fix it. I appreciate all the help!!!

Grumpy has been a huge help for me many times too!

Can anyone guess as to why my high scores keep resetting?

Recent NVRAM was installed and the rest of the game data remains saved. I know there is a setting to reset high scores after a certain amount of plays - but I did have that maxed out. Game is HUO and does not receive thousands of plays.

The game is unplugged occasionally..

You got this now!

Playball!!

Could the high score reset switch be stuck closed.

So, I'm pulling apart the playfield for some cleaning and probably a hard top and I ran across this hack-tastic surprise. I'd had some flashers not working in the area and figured I'd see the problem as I pulled things apart. Well, nothing like 2 pieces of wire soldered together running nowhere.

Big question for you smart guys is, I know the yellow wire isn't doing anything. The orange wire(s) on the center fixture are a ground and attached to all the flasher fixtures elsewhere on the playfield. My assumption is I need to "daisy chain" from that orange lug to the ground lug on the other two. My only question is the red wires on the ground lug of the left. I believe those red ones go up to the back box flashers as their ground is red. Not sure if I need to chain to that one along with the orange or if those red wires are a sufficient ground from the backbox or somewhere else
IMG_5895 (resized).jpg

Duplicate post.... sorry

This "hack" is probably related to https://www.ipdb.org/files/804/Williams_1987_F_14_Tomcat_Service_Bulletin_41.pdf
You might be interested in vid's guide https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/returning-f14-flashers-to-original-design-vids-guide

The orange wires are C side 24 volt DC power.

The red wire are 24 volts DC that is constant on.

The white striped wires are the ground wires.

So the yellow wire should be connected to the red wires to jumper power to the right lamp socket. Then the white wire that is not connected needs to go to the other lug on the lamp socket.

Remember someone disconnected this for a reason, so some testing maybe needed first.

Thanks for setting me straight. The white wire is connected (it doesn't look like it but it is) and it has a cut/solder about half way down it similar to the yellow wires.

Thanks for the service bulletin. I obviously misinterpreted which was ground and which was power. Looking at my wiring, the bulletin was never implemented. I may implement the change as I was having issues. The "hack" I was referring to was the 2 wires that were cut and then soldered back together and left open vice putting shrink on it or using a proper wire splice.

Awesome, I was able to convert it. WORKING NOW!!! YAHOO!!!

i have a pretty good condition f-14 for sale if anyone is interested.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/for-sale-f-14-tomcat-153

The important thing to do is to isolate the lamp socket nearest to the stand ups because the socket can touch the back of the stand up during play and cause a short-circuit.

i have made full gameplay video of the game. it show how nice led's look in this game.
this pinball is one is am selling so can join the club with a nice one.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wblWPMOdWCN-gjtpO4Ti7CLpyOcz-rsj/view?usp=sharing

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/for-sale-f-14-tomcat-153

I have a couple spare original F-14 pinball manuals in very good shape and one so-so shape if anyone needs...PM me.

Found.

Added cabinet lighting

20230128_163841 (resized).jpg

looks great.

Hey F-14 owners, I'm looking at adding this to my collection. Looks like several are available in the $2700-3300 range, do you feel like that's a fair range for one in good condition? Also, when inspecting the pin, what things do I need to test and/or lookout for that are common/major issues?

TIA!

yep - I'd say that's a fair range. I bought mine back in 2021 for $2900 which is in above-average player's condition. Couple of things that I've had to fiddle with (I'm sure others will have additional items):

- wireform lock diverters: I had to make slight adjustments to these to ensure ball gets directed to correct wireform
- beacon light belt: I'd suggest picking up a few of these as the belt is prone to snapping

i have a pretty good one i am selling for $2600.

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/149855

Adding in the missing flashers on a later run. Followed the old video and used Vid’s guide too but they’re still not working. Can’t really see date but assume this is a later run as no wires were present. Even the cement resistor was never installed but installed one. Machine has all incandescent flashers.

Any thoughts of what I chair I’d be looking at?

408DF8D1-8E69-480E-9284-257A73CDFF9B (resized).jpeg

C26E6A93-C4EF-461D-986C-6B83C46389AE (resized).jpeg

Doesn't matter what the date is. Start with the basics. You should have power at the bulbs when the a/c relay is on. Use a voltmeter and check the power while you have the game on a/c coil test. The power should pulse on and off. If good then go to the resistor board and jumper the ground wire to the resistor lead, the bulb should pulse. Let me know what you get

I was hoping you’d chime in Grumpy! I asked about age in case there was a software difference that doesn’t support it or something. I get no voltage at the bulbs.

I do get the right eject working on A side.

So snap a pic of the wire you added to the A/C relay to power the bulbs.

Brown with black tracer added.

44D90F9D-0F2D-477F-9C1D-2B22863D8C07 (resized).jpeg

And here’s the diode board.you can see I’m using white with orange tracer.

89EEAA61-C474-4F90-9EA8-654A61FD1F51 (resized).jpeg

Use a jumper and ground Q-7 transistor metal tab. Then test for power at the new bulbs on the brown/black wire.

No power at bulbs trying that.

Well your connections could be an issue or you have a bad wire.

Thanks Grumpy. I’ll go over them again.

Hello all, I recently picked up a F-14 and there are a couple wires under the playfield I can't seem to find in the manual. There is an orange wire that is spliced together on the left and right side under the playfield and a white/violet wire on the left and the white/violet wire is spliced on the right side. It is the long violet marking not the short one that I would expect on the switch matrix 1J10-2. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

I have the relay hanging down as I was checking a few things on it, so it will be re-mounted up under the playfield shortly.

Thanks in advance.

Wire_right.jpeg

wire_left.jpeg

Looks like solenoid #7 was disconnected. Check this out.

https://www.ipdb.org/files/804/Williams_1987_F_14_Tomcat_Service_Bulletin_41.pdf

Thanks Grumpy, I will check it out.

Thanks Grumpy, that definitely looks like what was remediated, just not sure why they didn't properly cover the wires.

In that case, the fix can be to make them work safely. See vid's guide https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/returning-f14-flashers-to-original-design-vids-guide

+

Thanks Clempo, I was reviewing that one shortly after reviewing the information Grumpy provided.

Dude, GRUMPY is like the one-man tech support for this game. I love knowing we have someone so well versed in this game!

Does anyone have this for sale?

s-l500 (resized).jpg

This is the guy on Ebay that sells those. You can message him and see if he still has some, that's what I did and he listed some more.

ebay.com link: usr

He’s a member here and has commented in this thread.

I can’t find the post, I’d like to contact him direct to buy a set and avoid the eBay BS.

It's a nice addition. The F14 just sold had them installed. When I stopped by my friends place who doesn't have them, his game looked naked.