I have read quite a few posts on this but still haven’t figured it out.
I have a 1973 Williams triple action. The score motor keeps running at startup. I have cleaned the entire machine including all stepper units and score reels etc. and all contacts. When I remove the john plugs to the playfield the motor will stop so I figure it’s a stuck switch. I went back and cleaned all contacts and checked every switch and coil. Still runs. So this is what I know:
When a ball is in the drain and i power on, the score motor will run continuously. When a ball is not drained and I power on it will run a rotation and get set. Then if I hit the start button everything resets, the reset relay is stuck in power on and the motor runs continuously. Then if I manually pull the reset relay to deenergize, the game is functioning but score motor still turns continuously. Also, when I had the playfield completely removed, the score motor functioned properly but then again a lot of stuff was disconnected.
So, is there something besides a playfield switch I should be looking at (I believe I cleaned and set them allgood enough), or can the reset coil or ball drain cause the motor to run. Or am I looking at tracking wires to look for a break. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks

Thanks for all the replies. I will work on it today and see what I come up with. I’ll start with the score motor itself then the score wheels and bonus unit plus the other relays. Thanks

Cleaned the score motor contacts again and made a few adjustments. No change. Started on the relays and I noticed that the bonus relay was staying energized. Hadn’t noticed that before. Will try to figure that out

So i set the bonus to zero and the coil is not energizing which is good but the outhole relay is now continuously firing (which is good because it never did before) and score motor still turning. But I don’t know what to do about the outhole relay because there is no stepper unit to reset like the bonus. So I guess chicken and the egg. Is the score motor making the outhole coil fire or is the outhole making score motor fire

Ok. So the outhole relay is being fired by the score motor. So getting closer but still need to stop motor

Target relay will fire and reset. Reset relay will fire and reset. Outhole relay will fire, reset, fire, reset etc as score motor keeps turning

A new culprit. Now I noticed the double relay is staying energized. Same bank as the bonus relay. Getting closer im sure but taking a break to chop wood

It just says double relay. There’s a bank of five: bonus relay, triple relay double relay advance relay and spinner relay

This is what I am concentrating on. The advance unit which I believe is the same as bonus. I’ve cleaned it but will clean it again

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Ok. I finally got to play part of a game.
So, when i start a game everything resets but the bonus relay is stuck on. I manually set the advance spinner to zero and the bonus relay goes off.
When that goes off, either the double (bonus) or triple (bonus) relay will energize and the outhole relay triggers continuously. Then if I manually advance the advance spinner one click, the outhole relay shuts off and i am able to play the ball. It is still stuck in double or triple bonus but everything works as it’s supposed to including the score motor. That’s about all the time I have for it today. Thanks for any input.

I should add that if the ball drains I can play another if I lift open the top and manually mess with the advance unit again.

This is how it sits now:
I start a game, motor runs continuously and outhole fires continuously until I advance the advance (bonus) unit one step. Then it stops and is set up for play. I can play a ball until it drains then the score motor runs and outhole fires until I manually advance the bonus one step. I can repeat this for a whole game each time lifting the top up and advancing bonus one step. When it drains last ball it stops. So I at least played a whole game.

Thanks. I will check those out. It may also have something to do with the triple relay being stuck on.
How is the score motor numbered. How do I find 3a. I would guess left to right, down to up but not sure.

It looks like it wants to fire, kind of a weak intermittent pulse of the coil. So im thinking a bad coil.

I cleaned and adjusted 3a and cleaned the outhole relay. I cleaned the sleeve on the coil. Everything moves smoothly and I can see the coil move slightly so it is trying to fire. I’ve heard of a 9v battery test for a coil. Is that a thing or should I just order a coil. Thanks

It is not charred or burned. I didn’t desolder it but I checked and got 2.2 ohms. Do I need to desolder it to get an accurate reading

I found a chart at flippers.com that says a A22-550 should be 2.3 ohms. So not the coil. But i can see the coil physically move just a little bit when the outhole relay fires. Like a vibration. I can feel a pulse if i put my finger on the plunger but it won’t fire.

That makes sense. There are two coils, one to advance the bonus and one to take it back to zero (reset). So on the reset coil, once it gets back to zero, one of the blades should open or close telling the machine it’s at zero and should fire the other coil to advance one step. I will check that out.
That doesn’t explain why the coil is trying to fire and is just vibrating. Or does it. Is it possible for a coil to be getting a little juice and not enough to completely fire or is it all or nothing.
I should probably start a new thread since the motor running problem was solved.

It returns to zero fine, it should then step up one click to start the game. I checked and there are no blades on the small reset coil so there must be a way it tells the machine it reaches zero. But you did give me an idea. If I remove the armature(?) so the coil is firing with no resistance it should tell me if it’s the coil or the stepper unit. I still think it’s the coil not getting enough of a jolt to fire it. Thanks

Thanks for the detailed response. I cleaned the outhole and 3a switches but I will revisit them hopefully today and pay more attention. Thanks

Well. I tied a piece of string on the armature and just have to give it a little tug after each ball but otherwise I got to play ten games.
I have to trigger the score reset relay a few times and she’s stuck in triple bonus mode but for $300 bucks and a set of rubbers I don’t care. I’ll work on rollovers and pop bumpers for now.
Thanks for the advice and this post is closed as far as I’m concerned. Score motor won’t stop running because bonus unit won’t advance one click at startup. Thanks everyone.

I got it to work. First i had to learn to read a schematic. The biggest thing that I never noticed before was a missing switch spacer, the little piece of plastic in between the switches. I fabricated something to fit in there and most of the problems went away. Then I was able to trace and tweak the other problems like a couple switches that were not working that I missed the first time.

I got it to work. First I learned to read a schematic. The biggest problem was a missing switch spacer, the little piece of plastic in between the switches, on the index of the score motor. I fabricated something to fit in there then was able to trace the other problems. There were two switches on the score motor not working that I missed the first time around.