There are two coils on the credits unit. One to increase and one to decrease. Clearly the increase coil works. When you start a new game I’m assuming either no power gets to the decrease coil, the coil is bad or the unit is needing cleaning or adjustment.

Not sure on the ones unit. Is the coil firing?

Before replacing the coil you need to make sure it is getting the proper voltage (25V give or take).
Does the plunger move freely? If the sleeve is gummed up it could be a matter of cleaning. Alternatively it could be a physical problem with the coil.

Pinball Resource is the best. If you haven’t worked with Steve Young he’ll get you set up. Extremely knowledgeable and helpful but definitely old school. Coils are usually around 10 bucks. Marco will run a couple dollars higher for the same item.

For Sing Along the Ball in Play counter is on the front apron on the left side of the machine. See attached.

I think there are two issues here. One is the replay counter. I’m not sure if this is being looked at. If the replay count increases but doesn’t decrease that could be a coil issue or voltage or a bad connection.

The sparking issue should be addressed first. I’m assuming the sparking occurs when you hit a scoring feature on the playfield. What happens if you engage the ones relay (N). Does it spark? If so I agree with MikeO (hi Mike!) that you should isolate each of the four switches. As I recall one engages the score reel coil, another goes to the bell. Don’t remember the other two - have to check my notes.

I recommend resolving these issues before getting hung up on infinite balls. I had the same situation several months ago. Diagnosed everything and found nothing. Gave up and worked on a separate issue where a relay would not lock on. Changed a wire which resolved that and as a bonus the infinite balls issue cleared up as well.

Keep plugging away. I’m sure we’ll get this taken care of.

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Thanks for the picture. That helps.
The far right bad switch looks to be sl-wh-red which when engaged keeps the N coil pulled in.
The next one (also bad) appears to be yel-bl which goes to the M coil. This would move you from 9 to 0 while moving the tens reel up one. It would not hurt to make sure your 9 switch on the ones reel is adjusted correctly.
Br+red is next (good). This should activate the 0-9 unit which rotates it and rings the ones bell. Does this rotate?
Last is bl+red which is fine. This should fire the ones unit coil and advance the reel.

Good luck!

0-9 unit

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Coil is probably bad. I’ll send a diagram of 0-9. You’re missing the clapper.
Sounds like the carryover switch on the ones unit is always closed.

Also, your part A-256 looks to be broken. That, the clapper and new springs (you’re missing one) can be obtained from Pinball Resource.

When I got my SA the ones bell was missing. Prior to that I bought a King of Diamonds where the entire 100 bell unit was gone. At least they left me a little slack when they cut the wires (why they cut them instead of pulling off the spade leads is beyond me).

I agree with Mike-figure out everything you need before ordering. Nothing more frustrating than getting your parts and find you need one more.

Besides the schematic another good resource is the Gottlieb parts catalog, the pictures are informative and you’ll be more informed about part numbers.

Also, 0-9 uses A-1496 coil. Bells use A-5143. Your Add Replay unit has an A-1496 you can borrow.

Any progress or are you still waiting on parts?

On the 1000s reel issue I’d look at the switch on the DS relay. It might not be closing with the others on startup.

The 0-9 coil is powered by switches on the M & N relays. You might see if either is always closed.

Hopefully you have a schematic. It makes life a lot easier.

I’m guessing if the ones coil is engaged that is engaging the 0-9 coil.

The ones coil being engaged suggests a scoring switch is almost closed and putting the ball in play vibrates it enough to make contact.

If the score motor turns it would be a 5 point scoring feature (all of the 1s & 4s). 1 point features are along the sides outside of the 2s or at the bottom slings (not always, if lit it’s 10 points). I’d check all of these.

Glad to help. This has always been one of my favorite machines.

See the attached picture. At the top are the 1s in the 4 colors. Each scores 5 points and to do so the score motor needs to run to count 5 points. Similarly at the bottom there are 4s in the 4 colors-red and yellow in the middle and white/green on the sides. These also are worth 5 points so the score motor needs to run.

The slings have the “10 points when lit” pointing to them. At the start of the game they are worth 1 point and change to 10 points when you get the red and yellow 1s at the top. Since they are only worth 1 point the score motor does not need to run.

On the upper left side of the playfield you’ll see the red 2 rollover. Next to it there are two posts with a rubber spanning them. Between the posts there is a 1 point switch. Similarly next to the white 2 rollover there are 3 posts, a rubber and a 1 point switch. The same is the case on the right side.

If any of the 6 1 point switches are closed you’ll continue to get points rung up and will run the 0-9 but the score motor will not run. Alternatively if any of the 8 5 point switches are closed it will be the same except the score motor will run. Given that you can at least narrow it down some.

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I’m kinda fumbling in the dark here so I’ll throw out some thoughts.

Part of the startup sequence is the DS relay (mounted underneath the playfield) closes 4 normally open switches. These provide power to the 4 reels to move them to zero. When it does the zero switch in each reel opens so the reels do not turn. Once all reels are at zero DS opens again. This has to happen before the ball is ejected to the shooting lane. Question 1-if you remove the ball so it cannot be ejected do all reels stay at zero?

Before the ball is ejected there is no power to the playfield (flippers don’t work, scoring features don’t work). Question 2-assuming all reels are at zero what happens when you trip the ball trough switch (it is near where the ball comes out to the shooting lane)?

Per my last message there are a total of 14 switches that should be open unless triggered by the ball. Any one of those being closed will activate the N relay in the backbox. Back in post 17 I outlined what each of the four normally open switches on N do. Question 3-are all of the switches on N open?

In addition to the Start relay (SB) switches you might check the other DS switches just in case.

That’s great. Adjusting switches like that can be tricky since you need the proper gap with the rubbers installed.