I have been cleaning up my new to me Dr. Dude, replacing a few burnt bulbs, a fuse, etc. The fuse I replaced was for the left playfield G.I., a 5A, it worked great for a couple of games, and then I realized the left playfield lights were out again. I have not replaced the fuse again yet, obviously something is causing it to blow. Any thoughts on direction for troubleshooting? I have visually looked under the playing wiring following the left G.I. and have found no visible shorts, accidental groundings, etc. Nothing looks wrong to me in the backbox, nothing burned or dark around the F4 fuse area.

I will look at both of these possibilities tomorrow. Thanks in advance.

It is definately a 5A sol-blo KenLayton. I bought them today. Thx.

I have pulled all the bulbs out of the left playfield GI (wow, a lot of bulbs). I had several that were out. Played several games, no blown fuse. Do you think it could have just been several blown bulbs that would pop the fuse? At this time I will install each bulb and try it and see what happens.

I have re-installed all the left playfield GI lights one at a time. None of them blew the fuse. I have played quite a few games since and "knock on wood" have not blown the fuse. I am hoping it was just the several blown bulbs that were causing the fuse to pop.

I am starting to get more confused. I have played numerous games with the left playfield GI not popping the fuse, but it is now popping it. I have looked again at bulbs, none are out with a new fuse installed. The last time I installed a new fuse, it popped as soon as I pressed the credit button. The thing that is making me more confused, is if this is somehow connected to another post I had started concerning the Left Top Popper not popping the ball in "Super Dude" mode (http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/couple-small-issues-with-dr-dude). This occurred when the left playfield GI was not popping and was working. Now with the left playfield fuse popped, I have shot into the Left Top Popper during "Super Dude" mode and everything seems to work great. I'm not sure the direction to proceed and if these might be connected or if it is just a coincidence.

I am not seeing any on the front of the board. I am thinking I should probably pull the board and look from the back?

I have pulled the interconnect board to look at the back. As a noob, it looks fine to me. Anything I am not seeing? I was hoping to find something.

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I have removed and re-installed all the connectors. Nothing looks tarnished or burnished. They all look great. I will have to dig in another direction.

Upon reassembling a fair portion of my playfield following a Treasure Cove polish job, I took my time to look for answers concerning my blowing fuse. I had placed a new fuse in again, and it instantly blew upon turning on the machine (worse situation than originally). I started tracing every bulb from under the playfield. I replaced a somewhat crushed area of wire going to a bulb (it looked worse from the insulation than the inner wire did), but the big issue I found was a bulb socket with one strand of wire shorting positive to negative under the Big Shot area. I think this had been intermittent but got worse while playing and became continuous. I don't want to count my chickens before they are hatched, but it was a good feeling to "find" something that was out of place. So far, the fuse has not popped, and hopefully and won't.

Me too! Thanks. I wasn't even sure I saw it myself, and it was so small it blew my mind that it could affect a fuse with a much larger "diameter" than the short itself.