I have been getting a high level education on pinball repair during the past few weeks, after purchasing and shopping a Jurassic Park Data East Pinball (1993). This is the first Pinball we've ever owned...
When I do encounter an issue, in addition to combing thru the manual and online repair guides, I also like to post here in case anyone has seen this before (or to help others in future who encounter same symptoms)...
- Issue is with the T-Rex (supposed to eat the ball from saucer on playfield)
- Appears to be working fine mechanically
- Passes start-up diagnostics, and during manual diagnostics I can control all three motions (left/right, up/down, mouth open/close) with no issues
- Two weeks ago, was picking ball up fine and swallowing, just as designed. Turns L/R, bends down, closes mouth over ball, bends up, chomps and swallows ball.
- For unknown reason, it now bends down, closes mouth on ball, then opens mouth before going up again (which means it cannot hold onto ball) and then chomps as normal with empty mouth.
What confuses me is that TRex appears to be functioning fine, for the motor and coils, and the behavior is new (was working fine before) without apparent known cause.
What am I missing? My first thought is that it must be software code problem if not mechanical, but I don't understand how that could be if there has been no change in code.
Any ideas??