Hello. I have a 1969 EM Williams Paddock. The apparently always-supposed-to-be-on Lock Relay buzzes very loudly. I read somewhere in these forums to (and perhaps I misunderstood) cut one of the wires to this coil and simulate the relay switch positions when the coil/relay is on. So I cut a wire and shimmed the plastic switch mover accordingly.

Turned machine on. It lit up, accepted one of the credits that was already partially wound up on the credit wheel, reset its score reels, the main motor / cogs spin as normal, and then no ball is kicked out to play and nothing on the playfield works except some of the lights.

So then I resoldered the wire back to the coil and it's still broken as described above. I am a beginner and I am unclear what I broke.

(Additional relevant and/or irrelevant information: This is a machine that when I got it, the coin switches were bent closed and the credit wheel was maxed out and the max credit switch was bent closed. I straightened that switch, and understand how to set it to free play correctly. However, with everything set how it's normally supposed to be, the coin switches do not register any credits. Also, you can see the 25 cent relay switches spark when the machine's turned on. Lastly, the backglass "tilt" light is always lit up when the machine's powered on, if that matters.)

I hope I didn't destroy the machine. Thanks for your help.

Hello, thank you, but I do indeed have both the manual and the schematic. I'm just too confused on how to proceed next. I understand the basics of the startup sequence, but trying to proceed to diagnose the failure is over my head still.

Ok guys, thanks thus far.

The tilt light goes out when a game start is initiated.
The four steppers in the machine have been cleaned.

The race track stepper properly resets to its starting position during the startup sequence. The score reels reset properly. A credit is consumed. A play is registered on the tally.

It appears to get to right before the point where it is going to finish the startup sequence and kick out a ball to play, and then no ball, and the playfield's dead.

Thank you.

Dave and others,

I am going to start a new thread and end this thread because I now have the game to where it finishes its startup sequence, kicks out a ball, and plays correctly, BUT the entire way that you add credits and start games was somehow completely botched by the previous owner, in ways that I do not understand how to reverse / repair. So figuring this out, which I'll explain in a new thread, was half the battle.

As far as what the problems were that prevented the startup sequence from completing, right prior to ball kickout, were as far as can tell, very dirty switches on whichever relays sit in the bottom of the cabinet below the pop bumpers. Either the reset relay the game over relay or both. I cleaned just about every switch very lightly with a flex stone and index cards soaked in alcohol.

On a side note, the chime coil, I also discovered, had seemingly stuck to the rubber grommet that it strikes, at some point, which must have become glue-like, and caused the two to fuse together and then melt the coil down.