Hey all, I recently purchased a Terminator 2. Having some issues. Here's what's happened, and what I've done.

Problem:
Fuse F111 (20V) blowing
Gun Motor not working
Flashers not working

Things I've done:
Replaced Transistors - Q38 (Left Sling - it was testing bad), Q54 & Diode (Gun Motor), Q28 & Diode (Gun Flashlamps)

Now all works, and Fuse F111 isn't blowing, but I noticed that the gun flashers weren't working. Upon turning the game off, I noticed they were still very dimly lit. I then turned the game back on and noticed they were still dimly lit. Pulled up the playfield and tested voltage. Below is a summary.

Problem:
Gun flashers maintain around 5v DC (dimly lit) if the game is on and they are NOT supposed to be on. They will remain this way when I turn the game off and slowly drain out. I.e., turn the game off and the flashers are still dimly lit and slowly drain.
Other flashers maintain around 2v DC with the game on.

I have no idea where to check next... any help is greatly appreciated.

I replaced the flashers with LEDs. I can see that they are dimly lit when they are not supposed to be (similar to ghosting). I lifted the playfield and set the DMM to DC. Testing the flashers (at the leads on the flasher sockets) show that they are receiving around 5v, although, they are not supposed to be on at all. Going into test mode, they do not fully light, so I'm assuming they are not receiving the proper voltage. When I turn the game off, they stay dimly lit for several minutes and drain out.

Edit: Double post

Thanks for staying tuned Grumpy. I was able to run the test and have a few pics to help with the description. Here are my findings:

Game is plugged in but OFF:
- Black lead connected to ground in cabinet
- Red lead connected to socket
- Reads 0.34v
- Using continuity test, number keeps going up

Game is turned ON:
- Reads 19.67v

Game is turned OFF:
- Slowly drains from 19.67v to 0
IMG_2418 (resized).JPGIMG_2419 (resized).JPGIMG_2420 (resized).JPGIMG_2421 (resized).JPG

They tested different. Summary below.

Game OFF (tested same):
Black lead grounded in cabinet, Red lead on socket - 1.5v
Black lead on socket, Red lead on socket - 1.5v
It appears that it is holding voltage, it will drain down when the game is turned off. It goes from 20v to 0v.

Game ON (tested differently):
Black lead grounded in cabinet, Red lead on socket - 19.95v
Black lead on socket, Red lead on socket - 5.86v

Any thoughts?

Gotcha. They tested differently. See below for results.

Game OFF:
Black lead on cabinet ground, Red lead on socket lead 1: 3v
Black lead on cabinet ground, Red lead on socket lead 2: 0v

Game ON:
Black lead on cabinet ground, Red lead on socket lead 1: 20.1v
Black lead on cabinet ground, Red lead on socket lead 2: 14.3v

Grumpy is correct on the yellow wires. They are jumpers to the other gun flasher.

The wires leading to the flasher sockets are Red/White stripe and Teal/Green stripe. See pics below.

82E4FE1C-C30B-4115-B523-932333B4E120 (resized).jpeg

E438000A-998D-4DF9-B85A-115A810A3EA0 (resized).jpeg

F01B9ED9-C930-487D-9ECB-FAEEDEDCFE14 (resized).jpeg

F49EBA74-32DC-4512-9C4A-BD71B9644A6E (resized).jpeg

Black lead on backbox ground, Red lead on J-126 Pin 5 (blue/green): 0v

Went into test flasher mode and the DMM responded when it was supposed to flash on/off. Not a full 20v, but the numbers would change from 0, to some low number, to back to 0.

J-126 Unplugged, Game ON:
Black lead in cabinet, Red lead on blue/green wire socket lead: 15.3v

J-126 Plugged in, Game ON:
Black lead in cabinet, Red lead on blue/green wire socket lead: 14.3v

It goes to the opposite lug. The wires are flipped between the 2 sockets.

Jumpers swapped and soldered. Repeated the same test of voltage with/without J-126 plugged in. No change.

Tested both J-126 plugged and unplugged and power off. Black lead grounded in cabinet, Red lead on blue/green wire lug at socket. Both tested infinite resistance (same as not touching).

I decided to test transistor Q28 (Gun Flashlamps) one more time by having the DMM on continuity, the black lead on the backbox ground, and red lead on the transistor tab. It consistently went up in value. I.e., the number kept increasing. I tried the other surrounding transistors the same way, and none of them repeated this. At most, they would flash a value then go to infinite resistance.

Q28 was one of the transistors and diodes that I replaced at the beginning of this thread. So, the one that is testing strange is a new TIP102. I will change it out again, but is there something that I can/need to test up the chain that may be causing the transistor to fail? Or, is the reading mentioned above for that single transistor normal, and I should leave alone?

PROBLEM SOLVED!

SOLUTION:
After replacing Q28 (Gun Flashlamps) with a TIP 102, the game tested and worked fine for a few plays. Then, I smelled the scent of electronics burning. I quickly turned the game off and tested Q28 with a DMM. Yep, it had failed again. Just standing there thinking, I figured there had to be a short somewhere as transistors kept blowing, but I had checked all wires and elements that I knew to on the board. Ah, but I didn't check the actual LED bulb itself. And therein lies the problem. I have an issue with always thinking the problem is much bigger than it actually is. I.e., it's the board, theres a hidden short, it's the diode, etc. Nope.

It was the LED flashlamp that was shorted. Touching the side to the bottom, and there was the continuity buzz. So the fix: replaced the LED flashlamp with a different one, and re-replaced Q28 with a new TIP 102. All good.

Thanks for hanging in there with me GRUMPY!