I just got a Stern Meteor. It's been sitting in an un-heated garage for 25 Years. We were told worked when it went in the garage. . . IMG_5613-2 (resized).jpeg
I checked the test points on the rectifier board and it's producing the proper voltages, however J1 pin 1 is burned and there were two wires missing from J1 and an orange wire jumped to a different point on the board. I repinned J1 and that brought the GI on the playfield back to life.

When I turned on the game it beeped and the red LED on the MPU flashed 6 times and then nothing.

What does the MPU check after the 6th flash?

A few times after cycling the power it flashed 7 times and a few of the score displays lit up with a few numbers on them.

The GI is working but none of the special lights are functioning.

The underside of the playfield has a lot of rust on all the metal parts!

I'm thinking I should replace the rectifier board and repin J1-J3 to get a clean start.

I have a bally solenoid driver board and a lamp driver board and I'm wondering if they would work in this stern machine?
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What do you folks think I should do next?IMG_5615 (resized).jpegIMG_5618 (resized).jpegIMG_5613-2 (resized).jpeg

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Thanks dothedoo I have started re-pinning all the connectors for the rectifier. There always seem to be hacks and patches on many of these early Solid State Machines. J1 was already burnt on pin 1 which I think is the ground for all the GI. On this stern the rectifier is in the cabinet close to the front instead of the back box on Bally's so it makes it easier to repin. I will report back after I have done this and tested the solenoid board. It has the original caps on it so I bet they need to be replaced. I have spare solenoid board from a Bally that I will try in it.

I have a feeling that I am going to have to repin many of the other connectors since there is so much rust and corrosion under the playfield. I bet many of the connectors are bad.

I will definitely replace the switch. Thanks Friengineer.

One of the things that I'm wondering about how to proceed with all the rusted plungers for every single coil on this machine. . .
The three for the flippers and the 4 for the drop targets, one for the pop bumper and two slingshots.

Should I try cleaning them all up with a wire wheel? Should I just order new ones?
Also, the coils on this machine have aluminum sleeves -Should I clean and re-use them or replace them with new plastic sleeves? Luckily they are aluminum so they never rusted liked the plungers. . .

Thanks for everyone's advice!

So a vibratory cleaner that tumbles ammo casing. What medium would you put inside it? What does one cost?
Is a vibratory cleaner better than soaking everything in rust remover? Or can I just sand with fine grit sand paper and polish on a polishing wheel?

Mad_Dog_Coin_Op - I have started cleaning and shopping the machine.
A_Bord The playfield is in pretty good shape which is this machine's saving grace so far! Meteor has 4 different sets of drop targets. The reset coils and plungers are rusted pretty bad. I think I'll have to dismantle and clean

Nice Aflacjack ! Where did you get the new playfield? How much was it? I have yet to do a playfield swap. It seems to be the most daunting thing in pinball revivalism! This pin has a bunch of special lights that I'm nervous about working on since they are all probably corroded. I do have lamp socket cleaner(Long rubber post with some abrasive in it). I just read you can put them in a drill and make short work of cleaning each socket.

My playfield is not bad, just a few spots where the paint is worn. I have a feeling once I re-pin all the connectors on the Retifier board I'm going to find out that I need a new solenoid board. Then I'm hoping I just need to re-pin the connectors on the MPU and Lamp Driver board to fix everything else. . .

I have a rectifier (Homepin) on order, https://www.pinballlife.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=AS-2518-18&Category_Code=

I have already installed 4 so I have experience. This stern has it in the cabinet which makes re-pinning J1-J3 easier.

Then I will probably need a new solenoid board. I have a spare one and after swapping it with the current board allowed the machine to boot but only after I messed with the connectors. So I will probably have to re-pin all the connectors.

Does anyone know of a kit that has all new molex connectors and trifurcon connectors for all the boards on an early solid state like this meteor?
I'm pretty sure all the metal on this machine is corroded!

Aflacjack Your playfield swap is pretty daunting! I totally understand why you've waited a year! I agree with Rikoshay First you gotta get the general and special illumination braid installed before you start moving light sockets or other stuff over which will get in the way. Do you have a roll of braid like this:
https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1041-third-coast-pinball/00473-ground-braid
or were you going to just try and move it over from the old one? I think if you got a roll you could look at the old one and just try and run it in the same pattern, stapling it as you go. Just start chipping away . . . it'll get easier and less daunting as you progress!

The only difference between solid and stranded wire is stranded wire is easier to bend when you are laying it out. Solid works, it just takes a little more work to bend it. My meteor has pretty thin stranded wire under the playfield.

A quick update on my Meteor. I replaced the bridge rectifier board and re-pinned J1-J3. I also swapped the solenoid boards with a used one.
The machine boots but doesn't get to the 7th flash. I believe the flippers are causing the problem. All three are completely rusted out. The 1 AMP slow blow fuse under the playfield has blown several times so I removed it and I've been able to get into the test modes. The one pop bumper is stuck on so either the diode is bad or the transistor on solenoid board. I had to cut one of the wires to get it to shut off.

I also was able to remedy the rust on the out ball kicker and both slingshots and rebuild them. I followed everyone's advice here and started with Evapo-Rust. I soaked the rusted parts in Evapo-Rust and it worked really well at dissolving all the rust. It turns it black. Next I polished the parts by either put the smaller ones in a vibratory cleaner with walnut shells or I buffed the bigger parts on a buffing wheel with medium and fine grit polishing compound. Vibratory cleaners are amazing! Anything small I put in there came out shiny and new looking! I wish I had a bigger one for the big drop target pieces.

Next I will remove the rust and rebuild the 4 drop targets. Evo-rust works great on dissolving all the rust on the springs. Hopefully it doesn't weaken the metal. I am also in the process of rust removal and sanding and repainting the coin door. Apparently Rustoleum Hammered Silver is the correct color and texture for early Stern Coin Doors. The only part of the door that was chromed is damaged from rust/corrosion and much of the chrome plating has come off.

Is this a part I can get a replacement for? Pictures and Video to follow.

I have ordered all new alltek boards, replacement drop targets and hopefully this will revive the machine.

Thanks for the clarification. The pop bumper is locked on - so it looks like the transistor at Q9? needs to be released. The solenoid board I am using is a temporary solution until the new Alltek boards arrive.

I forgot to mention that I also de-rusted and repaired the knocker inside the cabinet and got 99% of all the playfield lights to work. I got a great tip from pinside on using a socket cleaning stick in a drill. You can fit it in the drill's chuck and it makes quick work of cleaning the lamp sockets.

Still waiting on all my parts. I am currently working on restoring the coin door.

There is a great step by step here! - https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/classic-bally-stern-coin-doors-step-by-step-guide-to-restoration#ctop

I am currently soaking all the rusted parts in Evapo-Rust. Next I will repaint using Rust-Oleum hammered silver spray paint.

Pictures to follow. . .

Thought I'd give an update on my Meteor progress. I have really gone down the rabbit hole of rust removal and polishing. I am using a combination of Evapo-Rust, a buffing wheel and vibratory tumbling cleaner for the smaller parts. I have successfully rebuilt drop target 1 and the Meteor drop target but some of the letters just fall after being reset. I believe I need new springs because they aren't as tight as they were 40 years ago. . .

Does anyone know the size of the drop target springs for Meteor and the 6 smaller springs on the coils for the METEOR drop target at the top of the playfield? Would pinball resource have them or Marco specialties?

The original coin door had many of its internal components rusted. The door itself was rusted and scratched.
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This is what it looks like now.
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I also rebuilt all the flippers and the right lower flipper started acting weird yesterday. Everything worked great after I rebuild all the flipper.
However, when I hold in the right flipper button now the flipper vibrates rapidly going up and down until I let go. I have tried adjusting the EOS switch but it still does it. I'm wondering what might be causing the crazy vibrating.

Maybe the coil is loose or one of the diodes went bad?

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O.K. - I think I fixed the flipper by replacing the diodes. One was bad. Now the right flipper works correctly.

My new problem is the center thumper and the left and right sling shot don't work during the game.
The weird thing is - if I go into test mode - everything fires correctly and shows on my Alltek board as red led. I checked for shorts and other problems at all the switches but haven't been able to get to the bottom of why the slingshots and bumpers stopped working during a game.

It's weird they work when I go into test mode. . .

No, the switches are not being detected during the switch test. I get a 0 during the switch test. The switches in question are 14 for the thumper bumper, 15 for the right song shot and 16 for the left slingshot. If I tap the switches in question during switch test mode the MPU doesn’t detect them.

I think I need to test the diodes on each switch next. It’s possible I blew one when working on the flipper. The other thing i need to check again for is a short.

The thing is both slingshots and the bumper worked perfectly before I fixed the problem with the jackhammering flipper. . .

There was a broken brown and white wire on the.left bumper switch at the back of the playfield! D89487E7-F7DE-4957-BCF1-6A959C08F3BE (resized).jpegI re-soldered it and the thumper
bumper and slingshots work now! Thank you!

I finally finished de-rusting and rebuilding all the drop targets!
Here's what they looked like before.
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My rust removal workflow was:
Soak the big parts in Evapo-Rust

Tumble the smaller parts in the tumbler with walnut shells.

Buff the big parts and some of the smaller parts after soaking.

Finished parts
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The "Meteor" Target at the top was giving me all kinds of problems with certain letters not staying up after reset.

After much trial and error I finally figured out what I needed to do to make the letters stay up!

There are 6 L shaped metal plates that are attached by small springs to the 6 Drop Target Reset Coils C1-34-3400- Stern called them Memory Drop Target Relays.

First, I tightened each spring by removing 2 loops. This pulls the L-Bracket towards a brass rod stopper and extends the brackets far enough to catch the drop targets up when they are reset. I also tightened the longer springs that are on each drop target while I wait for new springs to arrive.

Next I removed the assembly and manually reset the drop targets while looking closely at the little L shaped brackets on each coil. I looked closely at the end of the L-Bracket where each drop target catches and locks. There is a tiny plastic lip on the drop targets that catches on the L bracket. When I manually reset the targets and held the bar as far up as it would go I could see a tiny space (1 or 2 MM) above the L-Bracket and below the plastic notch on 4 of the 6 letters. On the two letters that wouldn't lock there was no space so I bent the L-Brackets down a millimeter and now all six letters stay up after reset!!

I'm still having problems with the right flippers. Sometimes they don't move when I press the button. . . I hear a buzz but nothing happens. When I press both buttons together the right flipper will finally fire.

I am going to replace the coil next - The flipper in question has a different coil than the left flipper and looks like it was replaced in the past. The lower right flipper has two EOS switches. One that is the EOS and a bigger one that closes when the EOS switch opens. What does this second switch do? I have rebuilt this flipper since taking this photo.
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Does it fire the upper right flipper?

Since those last photos I got three flipper rebuild kits. I have rebuilt all the flippers and replaced all the EOS switches and cleaned the double stacked switch. Everything worked beautifully until the right flipper started "Jack-hammering" so I replaced the diodes on the coil and that fixed it temporarily. Now, when I press the flipper button, the right flippers don't flip every couple of presses... If I press the left flipper button at the same time the right will suddenly flip.

I have ordered a new coil and will see if that fixes it.

dothedoo Thank you for reminding me sometimes the fix to a problem is to try again! I have burnished those EOS switches several times. I think where I went wrong after installing was not putting enough tension on the switch leafs when they are together - so even those they looked like they were touching they weren't making a strong enough connection.

After burnishing the EOS switches and re-adjusting the tension on the switches the right flippers work again!!

So here is the revived Stern Meteor with rebuilt flippers, slingshots and drop targets. I also replaced the capacitors on the sound board and added LEDs.

The last thing I need to do is some cosmetic work on the cabinet and repaint the legs! I'm going to use the hammered silver to match the coin door.