Not much of a story.. My name is Joe (justjoe13) and my wife (Darth Ripley) have been interested in Pinball games since I was young, and never really imagined being able to purchase a Pinball machine until 9/13/2011. I was at a Christian ReSale (think of a Christian Goodwill) and spotted a Williams Gorgar machine for $199. After some bargaining, I was able to pay just $150 for it. It powers on, but only works 85%.. some lights are out, and does not play 100%.. but "GORGAR SPEAKS!". And from the people at the store.. it WAS working a week ago.. so there is hope!
I swapped out some old AA batteries.. and got the dreaded 1496 error.. quick off/on makes it come up OK.. checked the voltage at the batteries.. each one is OK.. but the main +/- show no voltage.. so I have to re-solder the pins.. or replace the holder and +/- .. any ideas??

I just ordered the manuals for it.. but is there a difference from the operating manual or owners manual? So I can help troubleshoot the rest of the pinball not working properly.

This goes right next to my 1983 Williams Joust Arcade machine that I picked up for $50 (but is currently down for repairs).. shame that someone doesn't have replacement boards for those machines like Rottendog makes. =(

More machines to come once I have a bigger house!

gorgar1.jpg gorgar2.jpg gorgar3.jpg

Thanks all, it is nice to have encouraging words. Been on too many forums full of haters.
This seems like a nice community. My wife just joined also (Darth Ripley)

Will the Owners Manual have everything I need to troubleshoot the pinball not working properly?
I might post over on the technical section for help on that.

One thing that my wife and I cannot believe is that someone donated the mahcine, especially to a Christian store.
In fact, after talking with the employees.. it was in the back.. and was "in use" until it stopped working, that is when they decided to put it on the floor for sale.. which is the same day we visited the store. So.. we timed it just right..=)

Where do you see the member #?

Thanks guys!! It is really appreciated.

So.. here are some of the things that I was having a problem with..
only 1/2 of the main table was lighting up, and the score area was not lighting up..
but a 20A fuse solved those problems.. other than some odd bulb here and there that is out/gone.
How expensive would it be to convert to LED?

But this is what I am facing now..
1. Drop targets are not working
2. Pop bumpers are not working
3. a couple of various bumpers are not registering
4. At the start of gameplay, the pinball does not pop into play
5. Ball lock does not kick the ball back into play
6. I have 2 balls, different sizes.. I was thinking about purchasing a "Gorgar Pinball Overhaul, Rebuild &Refurbish Kit" from Authentiarcade on Ebay.. which would have 2 new balls.
7. 1496 1 battery error.. but I measured across all 3 batteries (fresh batteries) and I am reading 0.00 volts.. so something happened, and I will have to replace the battery holder with a replacement holder.. a Trick that worked on the Williams arcade boards was to solder on a coin battery holder and use a cr2032 batt in its place.. but not sure if that has enough voltage.

What does everyone think?
I am just wanting to repair things and then Clean the heck out of it.. as it is pretty dirty.. and as almost all older pinballs, has had drinks spilled on it.

Now for lit up picsgorgar6.jpggorgar5.jpggorgar4.jpg.

Craigmack, I am fine with inspecting the boards, and re-soldering and getting new connectors and what not. The whole machine needs a good once over to clean it up, as it has been neglected for quite some time.

SunKing, thanks for the info.. and if I need to for Gorgar, then I will deff look into this.
I was stating for my Williams Joust Standup Arcade machine.. I wish that someone made replacement boards like Rottendog for my arcade machine, not a Joust pinball. that is all.. =(
Those are nice looking boards.

OK.. I was able to download the Gorgar Instruction booklet and according to all I read there, it talks about the solenoid.. and I do not think that any of those are working.. which means that whatever controlls the solenoid (driver board?) is not working.. so I just need to figure out what controls that.

At the same time, I am cleaning the machine up.. as it has been pretty neglected for some time.. but I am not going to replace EVERYTHING.. as it would be expensive, and I want to keep some of the character that the machine has. I am just going to focus on the things that need to be replaced, like rubber bumpers and other missing things here and there.

I read about the #47 bulbs.. which I will look into getting, and then saw the "resistor kit"...
http://www.marcospecialties.com/customkititems.asp?kc=WPRK-1
Do you guys recommend it? But I need to figure out why my solenoids are not working first.. So many things.. I just want to play it! =)

UPDATE..
After looking at the fuses.. I noticed that there is a 2.5A fuse for the Solenoids.. it "Looked" OK.. but I ran a continuity tester on it, and it was blown! .. answering why the Solenoids are not working.. now, I replaced the fuse, not once, but twice with a 3A fuse.. and it still blew.
So, now the question is.. Why is it still blowing? is there something like a faulty bridge that is causing this?
Please help.. I am soo close to getting this working.

I did check the batteries.. thanks. I was in luck, and there was no leakage that I can see..which is nice. The battery holder was a B!^@# to get the batteries out and in.. I think that is what caused my 1496 01 (battery error) to show up in the first place.. so I will be replacing those..

Sunking.. thanks for the links..
My wife and I are still surprised to find the sheer amount of support for these Pins out there.. again much more than normal arcade machines.. and you would think the opposite would be true.. but not. Not that I can find.

I think what my wife means is that on the plastics.. there are some with "metal posts" underneath to help support when mounted.. they do not want to seem to want to come out.. and I didn't know if it would be OK to try to pry them out or not. Don't want to break any of the plastic parts.. as they are in pretty good condition, just warped.

OK.. just an update..
I was able to OHM out the solenoids.. and all checked out except for the credit knocker.. came out at like 1 ohm.. so I think it is pretty nasty.. You can see in the pic..

Then I went ahead and replaced the solenoid fuse with the 2.5a slow blow fuse.. and then unplugged the solenoids and then powered it up.. and nothing blew.. So.. it has to do with the solenoid(s)..
So, I just clipped the wires to the credit knocker, and will plug everything in and see what happens.. I will let you guys know.

DSC09359.JPG

Good News Everyone!
Well, after clipping off the credit knocker coil (see pic above) and plugging in all of the connectors (I think).. I powered it up, and it did NOT pop a breaker.. which means that it was that nasty coil to make it flip out. I thought that it looked quite susspect.. but now I know for sure.
So.. Once I am able to get this bad boy all cleaned up and replace that coil.. will cross my fingers that it all works.. I did have some of the things on the right side of the playfield not "respond" during my testing.. but it looked like everything else worked, including the pop-bumpers and the drop targets reset.. etc. Which is great to have.
The ONE thing that I am really having a hard time with is with the "ball" switch when the ball is "out of play" at the bottom of the playfield.. HOW am I to get this to hit the switch and notify the CPU the ball is there?? It is soo sensitive, and I do not know how that little guy us to be wired.. if anyone could give me a pic or anything, it would be appreciated.
I will continue to keep everyone up to date on Gorgar's status.