(Topic ID: 248861)

Gottlieb Gladiators System 3 - Left Flippers not working

By Quadrider

4 years ago



Topic Stats

  • 10 posts
  • 4 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 4 years ago by Benhurr
  • Topic is favorited by 1 Pinsider

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#1 4 years ago

A few days ago I brought my first machine home. A Gottlieb Gladiators system 3. Everthing worked 100% fine and looked good before purchasing. Last night while playing, immediately after the shaker engaged, the left flippers (both upper and lower) stopped working... leading me to believe there is probably a loose connection somewhere. Taking a closer look, I can’t seem to find any loose connections, and everything looks visually ok underneath. Checked the fuses (F20 & F21) and they tested out fine. Have not checked the coils yet but that’ll be my next step. The right flippers (both upper and lower) and everything else on the playfield works completely fine.

Ran the diagnostic test, and still somewhat confused on how these read out....

As this is my first machine ever, not sure what else to do next.... so please pardon my ignorance. Any insight or recommendations you can provide for a noob on what to check next and proper steps to take would be much appreciated. Thanks!

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#2 4 years ago

Do you have the manual for the game? They can’t have them on ipdb, IMO always worth owning to help find issues.

The switch stack looks ok and a gap, work back from there. Make sure the wires are on the switch and coil lugs. You can use the manual to see which transistor drives the left flippers and if there is one or two for them.

Did you test the fuse’s with a digital multimeter or just visual inspection?

#3 4 years ago
Quoted from northvibe:

You can use the manual to see which transistor drives the left flippers and if there is one or two for them.

It's not transistor driven, it's directly through the high voltage cab switch and the Q relay

#4 4 years ago
Quoted from northvibe:

Do you have the manual for the game? They can’t have them on ipdb, IMO always worth owning to help find issues.
The switch stack looks ok and a gap, work back from there. Make sure the wires are on the switch and coil lugs. You can use the manual to see which transistor drives the left flippers and if there is one or two for them.
Did you test the fuse’s with a digital multimeter or just visual inspection?

Fortunately I do have the original manual and honestly, it’s hard for me to decipher a lot of the wiring schematics since I’m brand new to this... Will continue to do some reading and learning on the proper wiring and working back. As for the fuses, I pulled them up and used a multi tester set at 200 ohms. Do I do the same for the coils, referencing back to the manual on what the correct ohms should bring? How do I test the transistor?

#5 4 years ago

It's probably not a fuse since all four flippers have their own fuses.

On the cabinet wiring you can see the left flippers have nothing in common until here, where they join to go to ground at A18J3. I'd start by finding this connector (probably down in the power supply somewhere) and reseating it. Check continuity from that white (9) wire on the the left flipper switches to ground and compare with the right switches
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Quoted from Quadrider:

Do I do the same for the coils, referencing back to the manual on what the correct ohms should bring?

Yes

Quoted from Quadrider:

How do I test the transistor?

There is none

#6 4 years ago
Quoted from zacaj:

It's not transistor driven, it's directly through the high voltage cab switch and the Q relay

Ah nice knowledge. Ya this is why I own the manual to all my games, I’ve had a gladiators a couple times but it’s been a long while and i don’t remember ever having a coil issue with any sys3

#7 4 years ago

Thanks guys. Last night fired the game up, and both left flippers worked fine for about 5 minutes then cut out. At first I thought when the coils or connections heat up, it shorts out and that was the root cause. So I Raised the Playfield and checked both left flipper coils... the left upper tested out at 6.0, the bottom tested out at 4.5. Rechecked all the connections, ran the factory diagnostics tests then fired it up and it worked completely fine! Played for a good hour with no issues.... leading me to believe now there’s probably a bad cold solder, or more likely a bad ground. I’ve read these system 3’s are notorious for crummy grounds and they all link up to the power supply. For now, I shut off the shaker as that’s what initially caused the short and do far it’s been playing ok (fingers crossed) Any insight or recommendations on next steps would be awesome. Man, these things are intimidating for noobs!!! Thanks again!

#8 4 years ago

You better shunt all ground wires near the transfo until it will burns transistor on A3 driver board.

#9 4 years ago
Quoted from Benhurr:

You better shunt all ground wires near the transfo until it will burns transistor on A3 driver board.

Can you please elaborate in more detail?

#10 4 years ago

The problem is the ground plug near the transfo. If one of pins got a bad connection due to corrosion, the MOSFET associated will heat too much and will burn. By soldered all wires together, if one pin is sad, the ground voltage will pass by another one. DC voltage cause this problem cause if the component miss is ground, it take all the power until it burns. On AC if one of the two wires miss to the component, this one will only have a half voltage and so works bad or doesn't works.

I had many MOSFET burns and since I've shunt all grounds it works perfectly. So If you don't want to have a big hole on A3 board after MOSFET burns and solder wires to repair it, I suggest you to sold ground wires. This is probably the only thing to do on any Gottlieb Syst. to prevent of troubles on driver boards and else.

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