I just recently picked up a Data East Last Action hero from a friend. The previous owner had shorted out a bunch of chips on the MPU by doing some soldering work while the machine was plugged in. This fried the switch matrix and so all switches were firing at once. I had board work done on the MPU to fix these issues and the game mostly plays fine. However, sometimes the CRANE targets are having issues resetting, and one out of three balls or so the skill shot won't work right. It seems to happen if there are already some targets knocked down. The 3rd drop target will be lit, rather than having the lights chase up and down, and some of the targets will remain down. It's weird but the animation on the DMD seems to be different as well. Instead of having a moving helicopter where Jack Slater is moving a gun back and forth, the gun is just stationary.

Sometimes the CRANE targets hesitate a couple times before finally being able to fully reset. I've had a few times where I hit the shot behind the targets which resets them, and they never actually reset. On one occasion where it was messed up on the skill shot and some targets were down already, the skill shot hit the target behind the drop targets and reset them, then I drained. Then on the ball save, the skill shot was now working correctly for the ball save.

The game seems to think there's a ball missing sometimes. One time when the skill shot was messed up, I launched the ball, then it said ball missing, and the game ended abruptly. So I definitely have some weird stuff going on. And I'm hoping we didn't miss something on the MPU. Although it seems that the CRANE targets mechanism itself may have something going on which is causing the targets not to reset properly. I guess I'll also add that the game does think the targets are upright when they're failing to reset. One time when the targets failed to reset, I hit the 2 remaining standing targets, and this didn't trigger the crane functionality to start. I had to hit the back target to reset them, then knock them all down in order to start the crane. So I'm leaning towards the CRANE target mechanism having an issue. Which begs the question: is this a part that's actually available to purchase? Thanks in advance for any help.

I found a detailed guide on cleaning the drop target assembly for this machine. He mentioned his reset bar was covered in gunk. Maybe that's all this issue would require, a thorough cleaning of the entire assembly and maybe go ahead and replace the drop targets themselves since they are available online from Marco Specialties. Does that sound like the issue to you guys? Just a gunked up drop target assembly? I'm not sure this explains the issue with the skill shot light chase sequence not playing though.

http://www.enteryourinitials.com/2016/03/27/last-action-hero-repair-service-log-5/

Thanks for the response. I took out the drop target assembly and noticed that the reset bar was slightly bent, causing it to catch sometimes. I bent it back into shape and cleaned up all the parts related to the target reset mechanism, and now the drop targets are resetting properly every time.

Now I have an issue with slam tilt being triggered in the middle of a game randomly. It has happened twice, last time it happened when the ball was in the pop bumpers. On a thread about a data east star wars, evidently this was being caused by a loose screw colliding with a switch and causing a short. I'm wondering if we didn't put something back together right when we did this job. So I'm going to have to do some more digging.

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This is a very helpful breakdown, thank you. The slam tilt bobber was actually disconnected at one point due to slam tilt being triggered by the MPU issue. So it's not even wired yet is still triggering. So I agree it's most likely a shorted switch, probably related to the work we just did since it started happening after we worked on the drop target banks. Thanks for your advice. I will work on reproducing the issue and finding exact steps.

I had the MPU board repaired and was assured that it's all 100% working now. We were able to get the drop target issue resolved by removing the assembly and bending the reset bar (it was bent out of shape and was catching sometimes). But obviously we must have not put everything back together right afterwards because now this phantom slam tilt issue started.

It was definitely a bit strange that the animation would change when the drop targets were malfunctioning. But I chock that up to the game just being in a confused state. This no longer happens now that the drop targets reset properly every time. So I will work on narrowing down the phantom slam tilt. It's probably something simple like a piece of metal shorting out a switch. There are a bunch of threads about this exact thing happening on Data East Star Wars, Lethal Weapon 3, Jurassic Park etc where a screw from the playfield comes out and pushes up against a switch. Although I didn't see anything like that. It's most likely something around the drop target assembly. There is a ton of wiring over there that's very bunched up and was hard to get back together. So the culprit likely is where we last worked.

I've done all the switches tests and here are the results. I believe the only abnormality is Right Flipper #64 showing up in Playfield Status. There is an issue where the right Flipper is unable to swap between the Bonus rollover lanes. My board Repair guy replaced a transistor on the Flipper board to try and fix this, but it's still an existing issue. The Left Flipper is able to cycle thru the Bonuses fine

Active Switch Test
Crane Left Limit and Trough 1-6 cycle repeatedly

Playfield Status
Crane Left Limit #60
Right Flipper #64

Switch Test
Crane Left Limit and Trough 1-6 cycle through once

I also went through the drop target assembly and surrounding switches and wiring. The only possible issue I saw was a diode was pushing up against a metal bracket (looked to be the Left captive ball target diode). I bent it away from the bracket but this isn't the issue. I still got a slam tilt after doing this.

Another thing that has happened twice which seems related is I have had the ball plunge and hit the targets, then the game says ball missing and resets. I've had some other issues where it thinks the ball is missing while in the troughs. I've heard these ball Trough switches on data east pinballs are problematic so I'm tempted to replace all 6 switches and diodes. Although according to the tests all 6 switches are working properly.

So any thoughts on this right Flipper thing?

The ball does seem to be getting legitimately lost in the trough. Sometimes I have to nudge the machine a bit to get it to break free and move onto the switch. Although one time it got real confused and did a ball search and eventually gave me the ball locked in the crane lock.

Also I don't think the drop targets are involved in the slam tilt issue. Just to clarify, the post was originally about the drop targets not always resetting properly, which I fixed by bending the metal reset bar back into shape. I had one game tonight where it said ball missing and reset during the plunge, and it happened before the ball even hit the drop targets.

I tried the pounding on the playfield during a switch test, and didn't see any other switches fire off aside from the normal ones (ball Trough 1 - 6 and crane left limit).

The slam tilt seems to happen during multiball. It happened once after I had just hit the right scoop and when it almost finished the extra ball animation on the dmd, it slam tilted. Another time I had a 4 ball multiball going and hit the super missile to collect all the shields (4 or 5 were lit) and this slam tilted. And still another time I had some balls bouncing in the pops, then hit the left captive ball simultaneously and this slam tilted. So it's difficult to pin down a common theme here. Although maybe one of the ball Trough sensors is part of the 4 switches in the slam tilt matrix. So when a ball is missing and one or two other switches get hit simultaneously in multiball, it triggers the slam tilt. It may involve the plunger somehow too since I've had the 3 times now where it plunges the ball, says ball missing immediately (before hitting drop targets), and resets.

First 4 images are of the right Flipper cabinet switch. I see one blue/indigo wire and 2 black wires. In the first pic you can see a purple wire by it, so we know it's not purple. So I guess it's indigo.

Last 2 pics are right Flipper end of stroke switch. I see the same indigo/blue wire as well as what I'm gonna assume is orange with indigo stripes. I definitely see the indigo stripes. So I think the main color there is orange.

I definitely don't see green/grey and a white/grey wire. To summarize again it looks like:

Right Flipper cab switch: indigo/blue wire and 2 black wires

Right Flipper end of stroke switch: blue/indigo wire and orange/indigo (?) Wire.

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From talking to the guy that repaired the MPU and worked on the game, he tried replacing the transistor on the Flipper board to fix the issue. But that didn't solve it. He says there's an issue with the Flipper board which is unrelated to the transistor. Some components on this board must have also gotten fried at the same time as the MPU. So maybe I need to replace the Flipper board to fix the right Flipper issue. Not sure if it's the cause of the slam tilt or not. I did notice the slam tilt issue after I had worked on the crane drop target assembly. But looking over my work I don't notice any metal touching any switches or anything like that. Someone who worked on it before put cardboard spacers between the switches back there because it is very tight. The only thing suspect I found was a diode for the left captive ball target was touching a metal bracket, so I bent it slightly to get it off the metal. The game runs very well aside from the Flipper issue and the slam tilt / ball missing issue.

Edit: He also said "You can pull the right flipper switch wire out of the loom on the flipper board so that switch isn't always active." I guess that might help us see if it stops the slam tilt or not. And could narrow it down to needing to fix or replace the Flipper board.

Okay I appreciate the sanity check. I did only have the game for one day before working on the drop target issue. So I sort of just assumed the issue hadn't cropped up yet. But you're probably right that it's a wire, diode or switch getting pushed up against something. Lifting and dropping the playfield actually has a scratching noise which my friend pointed out. So there definitely is something going on in that regard. I will go through it more closely tomorrow and look around the edges of the playfield and the drop targets. I did already find a diode pressing up against a metal bracket near the drop targets. That didn't fix the issue. But I'm sure there are other instances like this. My mind always overcomplicates things but I'm sure you're right. The right Flipper issue is probably not related.

Confusing is an understatement...these schematics just seem to be straight up incorrect in some spots. I appreciate you helping to decipher them for me. Here's a question about the flipper board. There are 2 sets of 2 fuses, one for each flipper.

F1 Right Output
F2 Right 9vac holding
F3 Left Output
F4 Left 9vac holding

There are two different types of fuses. One with just a normal thin wire. And another with what looks like a small spring in it. My question is shouldn't the types of fuses be consistent between the 2 9vac holding slots and F1/F3 (Left Output / Right Output) slots? I'm thinking the fuses may just be reversed for Right Output. The order of the fuses is:

F1 Spring Fuse
F2 Normal Fuse
F3 Normal Fuse
F4 Spring Fuse

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By the way, I've looked at both connectors on the flipper board and nothing is burned or anything. I see a rottendog flipper board replacement for Data East is available for about $140 although I've seen some posts of people having issues with them. As I mentioned before, the transistor on this board was replaced to try and fix the issue. It would be funny if this was really a matter of fuses being reversed. I just want to verify it's safe to try swapping the fuses for the Right Output and Right 9vac Holding so they are consistent with the fuses for Left Output and Left 9vac Holding. The board is clean and in good shape overall. So if it isn't the fuses causing the issue, it's a chip got fried on the flipper board.

I went through the entire under playfield area including all switches, wires, diodes, bulbs, solder joints, etc and here are my findings:

1) Plunger has a really bad solder joint on the purple wire with orange stripes. The base of the plunger has a decent amount of play so when it plunges, it's tugging at that solder joint. So I need to resolder here. Not sure this was causing any problems yet since the plunger works when I press the button (this machine has plunge buttons installed in place of the gun, sadly). Although I've had 3 times where I plunge the ball, then the game says ball missing and resets. So it's possible when it's plunging it's pulling that wire out of place and causing an issue.

2) I found about 7 bulbs with a lot of play in their brackets. I tightened these down so they can no longer sway.

3) The CAT target switch was super loose and had a ton of play in it from being shot so many times. I never got slam tilt when hitting the CAT target so I'm not sure this was causing the issue.

4) I hadn't noticed before but there are actually 2 bulbs under the sort of sunburst thing above the pop bumpers. Neither are working right now because I'm not getting any lights there while playing or in the lamp test. I assumed a bulb was out, but now that I see it's actually 2 bulbs there and both aren't working... I'm thinking maybe this is an issue further upstream? Neither bulb has a diode. I'm guessing these are both supposed to trigger any time you hit a pop bumper? FYI all 3 pop bumpers are working correctly (popping, scoring, lighting up).

5) Someone had clearly already had these sorts of issues and went through the game pretty well. They added extra insulation over wires that were touching diodes, and putting pieces of thin cardboard over metal brackets that were near wires and diodes, etc. I did not see anywhere that the wires were getting caught between the left or right side of the playfield. The wire looms that go undernear the front of the playfield don't seem to be getting caught up anywhere either. I did notice the diode for the left captive ball target was touching up against a metal bracket, so I bent that up and away from the bracket. I also moved some wires away from switches and diodes in some spots, although it only seemed to be insulated parts of the wire touching diodes and switches. I did not see any obvious signs of shorting of wires or switches or diodes going on.

Since I'm having some issues with balls getting lost in the trough, I looked over all these switches, wires diodes, solder joints, etc. The only possible culprit I noticed was the switches are bent in manifold different directions. Can someone look at these switches and tell me if they should be replaced (or at least rebent)?

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Okay so I removed the Switch Return 8 wire which is white with green stripes. Nothing changed in regards to the right flipper issue. In diagnostics I still see switch 64 right flipper constantly triggered. Do you want me to try a different wire instead?

I have some more findings from my testing. On ball 2 if I hold the start button, the game will plunge the ball and say ball missing and reset (before hitting the drop targets). Also, I realized I'm able to plunge the ball using the left flipper. I'm guessing you aren't supposed to do that. My theory on that is maybe you're supposed to be able to plunge with both flippers pressed, and since the right one is always being triggered, you can plunge just by pressing the left flipper button. One other thing I should mention is that someone wired in a launch button in lieu of the gun. And I notice that the lights don't flash as you'd expect. When you've already started the game and are ready to plunge, the start button flashes rather than the launch ball button. So I've kind of suspected that maybe there was some bad wiring done with the launcher replacement.

The slam tilt happens during multiball. I just had one happen where a ball had just drained during a crane multiball, and boom, slam tilt. I don't recall really even having any other switches being hit when it happened. So it seems there is maybe something going on with one of the trough switches. But in the switch test they all show as working correctly. Also, the diode you said looked broken is actually fine, it just has a piece of wire sticking out the side that makes it look like the connection is broken, but it's actually intact.

Edit: I looked at that diode on the trough switch again. It was a bit bent on the right side where it almost looked like it was touching the middle wire. I bent the diode out of the way so it wasn't possibly touching that wire anymore. But that didn't seem to be the issue. I was able to reproduce the issue above where on ball 2 I held the start button and the ball launched, said ball missing, and the game reset.

Thanks for letting me know about these two features. For my day job I'm a software tester and this looked like a reproducible scenario to get it to crash. So what I said about the slam tilt issue still persisting may not be true. I played it tonight for 45 minutes with several good scoring games (300 to 400 million) with lots of 3 and 6 ball multiballs, and never triggered a slam tilt. What I'm hoping happened here is fixing the diode shorting out on the wire for the ball Trough 2 switch may have been the fix for the slam tilt. This is something I will only know for sure after playing it a few days and not seeing the slam tilt.

Okay I like this idea. I'm not sure I know what Trough #7 (since there are 6 balls and 6 switches) and left lock bottom are. I'm pretty sure one of the ball Trough switches is related. I fixed the one you pointed out but that was second from the right. Anyway I'll be happy to give this a try tomorrow.

I was holding the start button down, and it's definitely on ball 2. Just the way this behaves seems like a "crash bug" to me so I assumed it was a related issue. Ever since fixing the diode on the ball Trough switch (2nd from right) I haven't had a slam tilt. Hopefully that was the actual culprit for the slam tilt. I played 45 minutes and didn't get a slam tilt yet.

The slam tilt bobber / switch on the coin door is what's disconnected. And the coin door itself is also disconnected. As far as I'm aware, this is the only slam tilt sensor/switch.

Do you happen to know where to get the special insert for the ball trough? I've been reading about this issue a lot as well. Some other pinball techs recommended getting brand new balls as well.

I'm really impressed by how thorough you are. The coin door has been disconnected for a while now. I can try the other wire tomorrow. I didn't even have to cut the wire, it was double sided and could be pulled out (the center of it is stripped to make contact in the connector).

For the MPU test, are CN8 and CN10 connectors? At this point its definitely related to either the Flipper board or MPU. Something about it being the very last switch in the matrix makes me suspect it's MPU related. Especially since the left flipper works for all functionality. It seems unlikely that a power surge would have only fried one half of the flipper board. This is just a hunch though.

Thanks for all the help everybody. You guys are great.

Okay that's interesting to know that the balls getting magnetized is actually a cause of issues in the trough. That was a theory I heard from some pinball techs I talked to in a tournament. I will plan on ordering a new set of carbon steel balls then and see if I still have issues. I definitely understand about not wanting to mess with the trough unless you absolutely have to. The switches are all bent in wonky ways in the trough but so long as it ain't broke, I ain't fixing it. It's mostly just before the first switch in the trough that I see a ball get hung up from time to time. So then I just gotta give the cabinet a little smack to get the ball to the switch so I can start my next ball. I suppose in that case it sounds more like a trough issue than magnetized balls. I will take a closer look and see if the trough looks rough and in need of some filing or the insert. FYI here's the link for the insert.

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1256-upkick-pinball/05597-trough-anti-magnetic-shim-acrylic-data-east-sega

Well unfortunately the slam tilt happened again twice tonight while playing. Both times in multiball. I tried doing what you suggested to reproduce the slam tilt but I wasn't able to trigger it while hitting the switches by hand. I had suspected the left and right captive ball rollover switches but I couldn't trigger the slam tilt when hitting those and other switches.

I did your suggestion and removed the green/gray wire from the Flipper board, and put the white/green wire back in. I'm still showing the right Flipper #64 active in the playfield test. This is a stupid question but I've never taken the backbox off. Do I need to use the Allen key to completely separate the backbox, then reach underneath and pull out the glass and artwork in order to get to the MPU? At this point I'm convinced the slam tilt is caused by a board issue. Either a chip that was missed on the MPU, or the Flipper board. And when I unplug those connectors, what will happen? Will the game still play? Or will I just be able to reach the diagnostics menu and try the switch test to see if the Flipper switch is still registering? It definitely would be nice to get this issue narrowed down.

I had the ball get hung up in the trough on ball 1 with no multiball and no magnetization, etc. The ball just got stuck a centimeter or so away from the switch and I had to smack the cabinet a bit to get the ball onto the switch so I could play my next ball. I did order 6 new steel carbon balls so I will see if that helps. I will also need to take a look at the ball Trough itself.

Thanks again for your help you guys.

I've noticed something with the playfield tilted up during an active playfield test. The right captive ball target is not registering at all. I'm able to trigger both the left and right captive rollovers, and the left captive ball target. But the right captive ball target isn't triggering at all. The wiring and diode all look very clean for the right captive ball target leaf switch. So I guess this is most likely a switch needing adjustment. Or replacement. Interestingly the Right Captive Ball Target is switch 56 in the switch matrix, which is right next to the right flipper switch #64. They are in the row beneath slam tilt. But I still think this is related. I'm thinking there are a couple chips that still need replacing on the MPU.

One other observation. I went into the ball Trough test where you plunge all the balls by pressing both flippers. This used to work before removing any wires from the Flipper board. However I'm no longer able to plunge the balls with the Flipper. What this tells me is we did in fact remove the correct wire from the Flipper board. This tells me the right flipper stuck on issue is on the MPU and not the Flipper board.

Okay I've tested the flippers with both connectors on the flipper board disconnected. Right Flipper #64 still comes up in active playfield test. Then with CN8 and CN10 disconnected on the MPU, Right Flipper #64 still comes up in active playfield test. For whatever reason it has never come up in Switch Test or Active Switch Test. Only Active Playfield Test.

A strange thing happened after disconnecting and reconnecting those plugs. Crane Left Limit #60 never comes up in any of the tests anymore. Can anyone confirm if Crane Left Limit is supposed to come up in the switch tests? It used to show up in all 3 playfield / switch tests. Now it doesn't show up in any of them. Edit: I guess the switch could have been stuck and by me testing it, I freed it up.

I tested every single switch and every single one worked in the switch tests. Including right captive ball target. I must not have been getting the ball far enough back before when I was testing it. The middle standup eyeball target has been flaky in gameplay but i think it just needs a switch adjustment. It works fine in the tests and the wiring and diode look good.

Can you tell me the difference between Active Playfield, Active Switch Test and Switch Test? It has been very confusing to me. Ball Trough #7 works in the switch tests but not active playfield. And again Right Flipper #64 only comes up in Active Playfield but not in the switch tests. And also again Crane Left Limit #60 no longer comes up in any tests, it used to come up in all tests. Here are some pics of inside the backbox. Everything looks pretty clean as far as I can tell. As I've mentioned the MPU had work done on it because some chips were shorted out when a former owner did some soldering without unplugging the machine. However since the right flipper is still coming up with the MPU connectors unplugged, that would seem to imply the flipper problem is coming from elsewhere. Marshall (my MPU repair guy) said it must be a short or ground issue. But if the right flipper is shorted on, I would think it would be stuck upwards, or not work at all.

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The crane is 100% working. I must have moved it off the switch for Crane Left Limit before entering the switch test. Normally the crane is in the far left position pushing the switch. So Crane Left Limit #60 should indeed be coming up in the switch tests along with the 6 ball troughs. And it is now that the crane is back in its position.

There definitely are some ball Trough issues going on. Had a ball get stuck in the trough with a ball in the left lock position. So the game decided to release the ball from the crane lock. Then I locked another ball and it released the ball again and I had 2 balls. Not sure what the deal was there. Anyway I noticed 2 screws were missing from the ball Trough assembly. I found 2 matching screws in the spare parts box and screwed them in. This weekend I'll most likely pull apart the ball trough and file down any uneven or rough spots.

Here are pics of the ball launch button switch. Everything looks pretty clean.

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I looked through the ball launcher, smart missile and start button switches and wiring a bit more. I did notice something weird near the launch ball and smart missile switches. There is a 9 pin female connector (orange wires) and 10 pin female connector (purple wires) that are missing a mate. I presume this is related to the replacement of the gun assembly with the ball launch buttons instead. This doesn't seem right though. 17 or so wires that go nowhere?

Also, I posted pics of the start button switch as well. This looks kinda weird... it has two diodes... and one is stretched super tight and connects to a ground? Does that seem right?

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Here are the diodes. I do see a green wire and red wire connected to a diode. There is a red wire coming from the smart missile and green wire from the ball launch button. So this is probably okay. What do you think about the 2 female connectors lying around without a mate?

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The shaker motor is connected but I turned it off in the settings. I definitely do not have a printer connected so that could explain one or both of those connectors.

I think the right flipper issue has to be connected to the slam tilt somehow. The fact it's showing as always on seems to imply a short or grounding issue. What's weird though is the flippers actually work 100%. And with the MPU disconnected it still shows right flipper #64 as active while in the active playfield test. Same thing with the Flipper board disconnected. So this rules out the flipper switches, coils, diodes, and wiring since the flippers themselves work. This also rules out the flipper board and MPU. So what does this leave us with? The flippers themselves aren't sending the signal. The flipper board isn't sending the signal. The MPU isn't sending the signal. I'm stumped as well. Here's the picture you requested.

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