Hey guys, the middle pop bumper is banging and scoring and chiming now with the new coil and extra attention to the switches underneath and at the F relay but as fate would have it, I’ve now got a playfield lights fuse blowing and an apparent short. Solder drips always possible but I kept a cloth underneath.

I understand shorts can be tough to find but do you guys have any inkling of where to start? So far I know only that it’s not in the coin door. Here’s the sequence of events leading to it:

With the power on (I forgot to turn the game off first) I (with help) lifted the front of the game up a few inches to put sliders on the leg leveling feet. Then did the same in the back. I then started a game, removed the ball and lifted the playfield to Check the motion of the weak pop bumper before turning the power off to solder in the new pop bumper coil.

As soon as I began lifting the playfield I saw all the playfield lights suddenly go off. That had never happened before. The game still functioned and scored but no playfield lights. I then turned the power off and soldered in the new coil with a huge cloth to catch any solder drips. After installing the coil, I screwed everything back and checked the lamp socket and new bulb on top (which has never worked) I then power it up and when I started a new game, the playfield lights briefly and dimly came on and the fuse blew and subsequently blew with a new fuse.

The red pop bumper is strong and scores 10 and chimes but not 100. I can’t find the short. I looked at place where my hand might have touched when I lifted the playfield. Maybe some little screw or metal object rolled around when I lifted it up? The lamp socket on the pop bumper? I checked my soldering job on the wires and tabs and it looks like nothing is touching anything it shouldn’t. The other thing I’ll check later is the bank of relays on the left bottom board where the lock and game over relays. Whoever worked or wired them left an uncovered stray wire mess. Thanks guys.

Thanks Scott, I’m getting ready to get the light on it and re-examine everything.

The problem with the short is solved now and no more blown fuses. From the best I can tell it was either a solder tab on a light socket where the 10 of Clubs rollover was which was bent in or the lamp socket on the middle pop which it’s solder tab was pretty close to the metal frame.

I’m going to mark this thread resolved because the only issues left are the hack and the fact that the middle pop won’t light for 100 points. The 0-9 Unit is stepping like it should. Thanks so much to Scott and Mark and others. The Spin Unit is kicking butt.

PM guys if either of you come up with an angle on the hack or the middle pop not scoring 100. I’m going to take Scott’s advice and rebuild all 3 pop bumpers this fall.