Hello, I just purchased a Gottlieb Card Whiz in extremely fine condition. However there are a few problems I have encountered when putting it through its paces.

First, the single pop-bumber, the two smaller upper rubbers with a contact switch and the bottom two large sling-shots are not sounding a chime when hit. In the video of the machine being played by the owner I know that at least the bottom slings and the pop-bumper did chime. I also know that the upper two rubbers with the contact switches are supposed to chime from online videos of this game being played. So maybe something came loose in transporting it to me across the country? Are all of these maybe on the same circuit or something?

Secondly, the middle stationary "3000" target behind the card drop targets is totally dead. It is supposed to score whenever it is hit and when all the drop targets are down it is supposed to light and score 3000 points. Nada.

It came with the schematics but I am more or less a novice. Any advice about how to try to fix these two problems would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for any help!

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Thanks for this advice. the9gman, I opened the game and hit the targets and rollovers and found that the first (smallest) chime is not being activated at all. I unscrewed and took of the metal chime revealing the coil. What I will call the plunger in the middle of the coil that pops up to hit the chime is moving very freely. I can bounce it up and down with my finger within the coil. So is something else preventing the connection to get to that coil when it is supposed to?

Also regarding the "3000" target being dead. I will attempt to clean and adjust the switch to see if I can make it score. However the fact that the light does not light when all the drop targets are down makes me feel it is a deeper problem.

Thanks again to all of you. I am embarrassed to admit this but I found the problem when "under the hood." I noticed way in the back there was another small set of jones plugs lying on the floor of the cabinet. I hadn't seen these after I installed the backglass unit and reached inside for the plugs. This is my 7th pinball machine and when I picked up all the others, I took them apart myself to transport so knew exactly how many jones units there were. Now all the problems including the "3000" target are fixed. My face is red in shame.

However, in attempting to fix this another problem arose. When the ball drained while in the middle of a game, it started registering all the bonus points for the card sets I had knocked down, but then just continued to attempt to register points making that "garunka chunk" sound and would not stop so I had to finally turn off the game. When I turned it on again and started a new game, now it will not register any bonus points when the ball drains. Instead of the yellow arrow going up and loudly registering bonus points for each hand, only the yellow arrow at the very top royal flush hand silently lights up and then goes out and the hands reset with no points.

Sorry to have sort of cried wolf with the other things but I would be grateful if you had any advice as to how to fix this bonus feature problem. I am glad to have such enthusiastic pinball fans for help!

Thanks for your advice, paulace. This machine was purchased directly from Gottlieb by a woman who had it in her living room all these years and it is in amazing like-new condition. All of the mechanics seem extremely clean. I located the "I" AS Bonus Relay and even though it looked fine, I carefully took it out and disassembled the wipers on both sides and cleaned the contact plate and wiper contacts as indicated in the link you sent. I clicked the nylon armature and both wipers move as they should.

I reinstalled it and the problem is still there. For instance, if I knock down the cards to make the bonus light on the first third and fifth sets of cards, when the ball drains, the arrow goes past the first and registers the bonus then when it hits third it just sticks there and keeps registering those bonus points until I turn it off. I tried this with the playfield up and when gets stuck like this, the "E" bonus score relay in the lines of relays on the floor of the cabinet keeps firing (see photos to indicate it).

Do you think maybe the "signal is not getting to the "I" relay to click it when it is supposed to be activated? If not then it seems like the "I" relay is ok.

Thanks for your help so far. Do you think I should start another post with just this problem now so some of the other "pretty clever folks here" you mentioned might see it and help? Sorry for all the trouble. This is such a great example of this machine that I have wanted to own forever. I just would like it to work properly.

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Thanks for the advice about testing to see if the "I" unit is receiving pulses, though it may take me a while to get the materials I need to make that bulb tester.

As to your questions, the machine is not doing anything in a consistent manner as to the bonuses. It keeps changing almost every time I try the same thing. Here is a brief log of tests this morning

Lit only the 1000 bonus: registered that bonus and the arrow clicked up along the other four as normal and actually worked as it was supposed to.
Lit 1000 & 2000 bonus: arrow noiselessly went right up to the 5000 bonus with nothing registering.
Lit 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000: arrow noiselessly went right up to the 5000 bonus with nothing registering.
Lit 3000: arrow noiselessly went right up to the 5000 bonus with nothing registering
Lit all five: arrow goes right up to top and registered 5000 point.
Went back and lit just the 1000: arrow noiselessly went right up to the 5000 bonus with nothing registering.
Lit 1000, 3000 & 4000: arrow registered 1000, skipped 2000 then got stuck on 3000 just registering points until I shut it off.
After turning back on:
Lit only the 1000 bonus: registered that bonus and the arrow clicked up along the other four as normal and actually worked as it was supposed to.
Lit 1000, 3000 & 4000 and it went up all five making the appropriate registering sounds and registering the proper points like it was working fine.

Basically it is spastic. Sometimes it works exactly as it is supposed to. At other times it doesn't register the points. At still other times it gets stuck and it usually seems to be on the 3000 bonus. This also may be varying a bit by how many jokers I have hit which ups the value of each target but doesn't affect the ball drain bonus. It is hard to tell as nothing it does seems to have a pattern, though there may be one I am not seeing.

I also check all the fuses I could see and they are fine. I worry that I may have damaged something by not having that one jones unit plugged in while I kept playing game on it trying to figure out what was wrong.

In the meantime I will try to locate the switches that paulace and sudsy7 mentioned.

I took out the "I" relay again and clicked it around and the two switches act exactly as sudsy7 said they should.

I am a bit confused about exactly how to check for a pulse going to the "I" relay with the bulb tester. First where do I attache the two ends. Should it be on the blue and the black wires going into the unit or ones of the many others there. I will need to have the playfield up when I check this and am assuming with the game on I manually knock down targets to create bonus situations then put my finger in the ball return hole to simulate the ball being there to start the bonus counting. Then I watch to see if the light bulb lights each time. Is this correct? If so, since the "hood" is open, why can't I just look at the side of the "I" unit to see if the blades turn each time instead of looking at a light. Sorry to be such a neophyte but I am learning a lot for which I am very thankful.

When I took the "I" relay apart, I cleaned the wiper contacts to shiny bright as well as the plate the travel on.

I may have found the problem but not sure. I put the started a new game with the playfield up and lit the 1000 bonus. I put my finger in the drain hole and the wiper turned and registered the 1000 bonus and clicked up the bonus ladder. I then lit the 1000 & 3000 bonuses but this time the machine got stuck on the 3000 bonus and just kept continually registering 3000 points. The wiper had clicked as it should then stopped on the 7 position. But the odd thing was that the coil on the relay was indeed continuing to fire with each bonus score and it was pulling on the lever that is supposed to turn the ratchet that is attached to the wipers. But the ratchet and the wipers were not turning! This doesn't make sense because the two times I had the unit out and clicked it carefully with my finger, the ratchet and wiper turned completely around without a hitch.

I then turned the machine on again and with the playfield down started a new game. No matter how many bonuses I had lit, on ball drain only the arrow at the to 5000 bonus lights and no bonuses are registered unless the 5000 itself is lit in which case it registered 5000 points. There was not garunka chunk at each bonus, the top arrow simply lit. After two games like this it didn't get stuck again but I know it will at some point on its whim.

What is the most frustrating is that it is so inconsistent that I cannot seem to see a pattern in how it acts to help run down the problem.

Just for my information, could someone tell me how the "I" relay is supposed to function. Is it only supposed to move at ball drain or when the bonuses are lit as well? At each ball drain is it supposed to click through every single step on the plate or is that determined by how many bonuses are lit? Is it suppose to reset after each ball drain or does it just stay were it was? If someone could explain exactly how this piece works, it might help me see where it is not working properly by observing it or watching the light tester when I can make one.

I am almost at the point where I need to step back from this for a while to clear my head. I also do not want to be so much of a bother here. I should take some time on my own to learn to read the schematics and to read the pinball repair book I got from Pinball Resource. Thanks again.

Morning update. First to the machine: according to the dealer I bought it from a woman purchased it new from Gottlieb in 1977 and said she had it in her living room since then. He says he was the second person to have it. It came with all the original score cards, the manual, 2 schematics (one the original which was masking taped to the machine) and a bunch of other gottlieb stuff that only a first time buyer would have. I have 6 other machines and the inside of both the cabinet and the backbox (and all the parts in them) of the Card Whiz look like brand new including the wood itself. Backglass and everything is all original. What puzzles me is the game play meter. As sudsy7 asked, it reads out at 46,852 which is higher than all my other games. Maybe she had kids, then grandchildren that played it endlessly over the past 40 years. So if that is right, it has gotten a lot of play.

Here are photos of the "I" relay unit.

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Thanks for the info about how the “I” relay is supposed to work. If it is supposed to reset to one particular position after each ball drain it is not doing that. By the way, which number should it be on when reset. Here is this morning test for you to analyze. Did most of this with the playfield down then lifted it to see where the wiper blade was.

1. Started a new game and the wiper was on 5.
2. Lit 1000 & 3000 and the game got stuck registering 3000 points. Lifted the playfield and put my finger in the drain hole to keep it going. The wiper was stuck on 8 and, like last time, the coil was firing and pulling down the lever with the drive pawl continuously but the center nylon spindle was not moving. NOTE: the last time this happened I noticed it was also on 8.
3. Turned off then on then started a new game. Wiper still on 8.
4. Lit all the targets and got stuck again. Wiper still on 8.
5. Clicked the “I” relay carefully with my fingers to move it to 1.
6. Started a new game and wiper remained on 1.
7. Lit 1000 & 3000 and it worked perfectly as it should registering the bonuses.
8. Lit all bonuses and it worked as it should. Wiper now on 0.
9. Dropped two jokers and lit 1000 & 3000 and it worked as it should. Wiper now at 5.
10. Dropped all jokers and lit all bonuses and I think it worked fine but 5th ball was supposed to be double bonus and I don’t think each one registered double.
11. Started new game. Wiper still at 5.

Took the “I” relay out to photograph. Again I held it as it would hang in the game and carefully clicked the lever to simulate the firing coil and it clicked around the entire plate. I made about 5 circuits with no hang-up. Why is it hanging up in the machine?

Thanks for joining in dgAmpGuy. I took the "I" relay off again and fixed it so the shaft was in the center of the hole with nothing touching. I did this when I put it back together the first time so it wasn't working right before I did this and the shaft was probably ok before I cleaned it.

Started a new game. Looked at wiper which was on 5.
Lit various bonus and jacks hit combinations on the first three balls and all worked absolutely as it was supposed to. Wiper on 5 at end of these.
On 4th ball lit some bonuses and jokers down and again it worked as it was supposed to. However wiper was now on 4 at end of this.
On 5th and last ball which scores double bonuses, I lit all the bonuses (every card down) and hit all the jokers. On ball drain it cycled a few times but the arrow went right to the 5000 and lit and registered just 5000.

From what I am seeing, can I assume that the wipers should be on 5 after the ball drains which is its reset position?

Yes, sudsy7 I had checked and seen that all these parts where available to order, but wanted to make sure these were bad before doing that.

At any rate, very frustrating - I think my head is going to explode. As dgAmpGuy expressed, it is nearing the point where I just want to give up for a while. Game is out in the middle of the floor so I can work on it. Would love to be able to just push it back in line with my other machines and play it, sigh. See photo.

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Any little thing will cause this unit to fail - such as what was pointed out by dgAmpGuy above - that wiper will obviously not be making good contact with the board as it is shown in your picture - it is essentially floating on the shaft and will be hit & miss with respect to closing circuits.

sudsy, I sent out my last post before seeing yours which came in while is was typing. I am not sure what you mean by what you said in the quote above. I thought that I just needed to center the shaft in the hole so it would rub against it and possibly slow it down. Obviously that wasn't happening. Did you mean that from what you see the wiper blade itself is essentially not pushed all the way down on the shaft so it is gliding on the surface. I am not sure it that is what you meant because I don't know how you can tell this from the photo. Let me know what you mean and how I should try to fix it.

I live on Martha's Vineyard (grew up here, now retired) and would gladly pay djAmpGuy's ferry ticket and small ransom to come over and fix this thing for me. Just saying!

Last post didn't work right. First time I tried to quote. Continuing what was missing here:

Did you meant that from what you see the wiper blade itself is essentially not pushed all the way down on the shaft so it is not making good contact with the plate. If so I don't know how you can tell that from the photo. Could you let me know exactly what you mean hear and what I might do to correct it. In the meantime I will again go over this as carefully as possible with all your advice.

I live on Martha's Vineyard (grew up here and now am retired). I would gladly pay djAmpGuy's ferry ticket over and a small ransom to come and fix this for me!

Got it, Thanks!

One last thing, are we all pretty sure that the problem I am having is in the "I" relay and not some other component that maybe feeds into it? If yes, then I know I must somehow get this working correctly.

paulace, I have taken the "I" relay apart again to photograph for you. I flicked the drive pawl and it moves freely. Again, clicking the lever moves the spindle around flawlessly with no hangups while it is out of the machine.

I am trying to figure the AS Relay Adjustment on page 9 of the manual but is a bit confusing. Including not sure where to go for sudsy7's advice to check the ratchet index spring. Manual says "Adjust the index spring to rest in the 1st tooth back of the center (4) and to exert a minimum of pressure to the ratchet." What the heck is the 1st tooth back of center? Even looking at the diagram they give I have no idea what they are asking me to do. Also the distances between the gaps they mention seem like they need some kind of measuring device I do not have. Would be easier for someone who knew what they were doing to adjust this.

At any rate, paulace, here are the best photos I could take from four different angles.

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Thanks Dave. Again in rethinking this what gives me pause is that when the game gets stuck and I am holding my finger on the ball drain to make it continue to cycle, the "I" realy coil is continuously firing pulses and pushing up the lever with the paul (just like my finger does) but the wiper stays on 8 and doesn't move. Just a reminder of this.

As to how clean the machine is, here are a few photos of the inside.

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Thanks for offer sudsy7. I actually would like to do this as I feel with my experience I have exhausted what I am capable of doing with this switch.

It would be great if you went over it and brought it into working order. After testing it on your machine to be sure that it is working properly, when I get it back and if my bonuses still don't work as they should, then at least we will know something else is causing the problem.

Is there some way for you to private message me your mailing address or how should you get that to me.