Mine was doing this same thing when I first opened it. Make sure the plunger tip is centered on the ball when it's sitting in the shooter lane. If it's off center this will cause the ball to bounce around on its way out. You can adjust the position by loosening the 3 screws holding it in place. Also, try replacing the shooter rod spring with a weaker one. Mine shipped with an orange spring and is way too powerful in my opinion for this game.

Pinbits sells the sparky plastic protector for airballs. You can buy just the clear one. That’s the one you want, resist the colored ones with the spider webs. They look like shit and some people have reported that the etching of the spider web weakens the plastic and will prematurely break. As for the post you are referring to it is the diverter post that is behind sparky on the orbit. It’s a plastic post that moves up/down and the plastic is too “bouncy” so people replace it with a metal one. I got mine from Marco but haven’t installed it yet haha. And finally there should be “key posts” (in yellow) at the beginnng of the thread at the top with links to all this stuff.

Here is the metal post. It replaces the plastic post diverter which is at the top of the playfield near the pops. https://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=3591

Regarding the shooter lane issue, you may need to loosen the screws that mount the shooter knob assy to the cabinet. Take a look and make sure the plunger is hitting the ball on center.

Check to see if the plunger tip is hitting the ball square in the middle. Thinking it is not striking the ball on launch square which may cause the ball to not shoot straight or to catch air. Should be easy to adjust if so. You can also fling a ball up the shooter lane manually and see if anything is catching the ball. Not uncommon to have to adjust these kind of things.

I believe this is the metal post. It just replaces the stock plastic one which seems to be the main cause of bouncing the ball back down the orbit. Easy to replace.
http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/A-17986

Thanks for the speedy responses. I will take a closer look a the shooter but I have rolled the ball up the lane manually a few times and I am fairly certain the left side of the metal fork occasionally jump the ball. I'll I've done to it so far was make sure the screw was tight(it was)
I will post a pic shortly but there may be a bur at the end of the metal. Hard to tell from just running my finger along it but I do think it has a bump a the tip and it hit the ball sometimes.
I will definatly check the spring you've mentioned as I do feel it is a bit strong

Mine has the exact same issue and I’m sure it has something to with the rod not shooting off the ball at the exact center.
I also noticed that if I don’t fully retract the plunger, the issue is gone. So replacing the spring could be an solutions as well.

Now I know this, I might leave it as is.

I agree it goes away at lighter plunges but then its not strong enough to get that easy mystery rebound from the plunge.
I think my problem is this metal. Why else would the ball jump up right there only to wedge itself in the underside of the wires frame.

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Im not going to wait for it to happen but the ball gets stuck under here if I hops

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I don't have the exact same issue and my ball never gets stuck in the wireform.

But if the plunger shoots the ball of too strongly and slightly of center, I can imagine it can do strange things to the ball.

The glass is on in the pics sorry

The ball shouldn't fit between the wires on the underside right??

Thank you. Just ordered one

It doesn't fit through. It wedges itself between the bottom two. I pull the glass down and poke it with my finger and it falls right back down.

The rod IS hitting the ball a little off centre to the right. What is the best way to recentre it?

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Working on that thanks

Probably help to take apron off. All you need to do is loosened the shooter rod assembly, move it, and then tighten it. Definitely looks like yours is off.

Apron stays on. Lift the playfield, loosen the 3 screws that hold the shooter rod on place. Slide the shooter rod assembly to the left and re-tighten. Lower PF and check alignment. Repeat till you get it to hit the center of the ball.

OK, I just went through the entire Met Pro manual on IPDB and I can't find this protector part number listed anywhere. Surely I'm not the only person who has ever had to fix/replace this metal protector in front of the snake?

After owning this pin for 2 years now, I finally installed the last couple mods to complete my MET premium.

Linky no worky

That protector is not necessary on the Pro. It can be removed. The ball hits the snake molding before it reaches the edge so it never wears. Have had it off for 3 years. Looks NIB.

I've had to replace mine for the very same reason. I'll get you the part no. once I get home tonight

it looks like your auto shooter assembly is a bit off center as well. you'll need to lift the playfield into service position, loosen up the 5 screws securing it, lightly shift the auto shooter assembly so that both "ears" are touching a ball while it's resting in the shooter lane before tightening the screws back up

Thanks! Looking forward to getting that... even though it may not be necessary I would like to have a spare on hand just in case any wear ever occurred

Yep, sorry about that.

For those MET owners who aren't into modding, don't waste your time watching this video. My MET is now complete with every conceivable mod possible.

I first ran into this problem with my Star Trek LE. What I found is that original spotlight LEDs were hot glued from the factory but still didn't stay in place; the reason these fall out is that the inside of the cone is very smooth so there was really no where for the hot glue to adhere. I used one of my dental picks to rough up the inside a little bit by making tiny swirls in the plastic, this gives the hot glue something to grab onto. 4 years later...the LEDS are still in place, yet only a small amount of force is all that's needed to pull them out if I need to. Ever since them, I perform this same procedure for spot light LEDs on all my new Sterns.

You can get rid of that plastic. Mines been gone for years and the ball has never jumped off the guide.

Not what we were talking about. Shooter lane problems UNDER where you are looking. I want to stick some guitar picks or something where you are talking about

So I thought I had some burnt out or loose bulbs in the back of the play field........2 light assemblies were crushed with the wires ripped out. It is clearly from being caught on the prop rails and slammed back into place. Come on stern. This is a joke. These pics might not do justice but here are the damaged pieces. I now have to look up these parts, order them, wait and them solder them into place. Nice n.i.b.

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On a brighter note, this arrived today.
Snake fangs/tongue and Sparky glowing wires for his brain bucket

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That's one full pf....but your missing my 2 mods.

the part no. is: 535-0749-00

Email Stern direct. I am sure they will look after you, where pinside will probably not.

Did that first of course
Need to find the part number though

Had the same annoying issue. Put a carefully placed dab of crazy glue on both sides of the spotlight bulbs and reinserted them. They aren’t popping out anymore. I still need to put loctite on the two posts as they rotate after a few games. I also changed the shaker setting from maximum to moderate.

I applied the solution as suggested by @Who-Dev and it seems to work great! Much more graceful then using glue.

See earlier post: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/metallica-owners-thread/page/268#post-4411497

Vireland gets all the credit because hes the one who posted the fix. I just remembered he did it and passed it on to you. I have a spotlight that keeps losing its bulb also and i will be doing the same fix in a day or two. Vireland is the man!

i think it was epotech who designed these for keeping LEDs in their holders:

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Thanks for that! Doesn't look like either Marco or Pinball Life carries it... will check with my distributor or direct from Stern.

I got mine direct from stern

Looked at the track list online an realized I'm missing "end of the line" as an option. Is this standard? Does it ONLY play if you enter end of the line e gameplay? Seems odd.

Also is there an option to make the song you choose continue through all balls. The song restarts every time you sewer.
Thanks

It should not start over

EOTL is not an available song choice at the start of the game. Only used during final wizard mode.

Songs do not restart at the beginning when you drain, but at a different later point in the song. Often this sounds very similar to the beginning but if you listen closely or play for a minute or so you will hear it's different. There is no option to continue the song exactly where you left off when the last ball was drained.

The only moment I will EVER hear EOTL playing thru my pinball machine’s speakers is by activating the jukebox. :-/

(enable from within game adjustments (in conjunction with free play) and activate by holding a flipper button while in attract mode)

I just tried. They actually start over every ball. I tried sewering immediately or waiting a minute. Starts over. Lame

It depends on the song and there’re certain key points within a song at which the machine returns upon the next ball.
So no exact resuming where you left of.

That’s one of Stern’s firsts with #IMDN by the way.

Incorrect. There are checkpoints that you have to make it to for all the songs. Otherwise it does start over. Don’t drain so quick lol...problem solved

I use the method of putting electric tape around the base of the bulb like a 'U' (cut so the wires are exposed). The bulb pushes in VERY securely and never falls out.

Playing around with it, it seems like the songs each have one checkpoint near the middle to restart at but that's it. Gets a little annoying playing with a 5yr old. Oh well.
May have to look into the track swapping I've heard so much about. There are a couple songs that I'm just never going to choose for a pinball game. I'm looking at you Enter Sandman, Unforgiven and Fade to Black........tempo is way off for this game.
How is Hit the lights NOT in a game where you literally hit lights? No Whiplash? Come on lol