Moved my son-in-law’s Space Mission to my house this morning so I can get it up and playing for my grandsons. The kids are 3 and 1 and the 3 year old likes flipping some. The son-in-law purchased the machine at an estate sale. He has cleaned some things, but it does not start a game yet.

My plan is to get it playing and then strip the playfield, clean, wax, and tumble/ultrasonic some posts and hardware. I’ll likely fashion a back door for the head out of plywood.

First step will be checking fuses and looking at the start up sequence.
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Credit button doesn’t start a game.
I messed around with some relays and got it to kickout a ball.
1000 point switches do not work.
1000 point score reels don’t work.
No chimes.
Player unit must be messed up. It’s skipping around players and balls.

Thinking I need to begin here.

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You’re right. I have more confidence working on Bally EMs. This one is going to be a pain. I have a feeling a bunch of the stepper units are going to need a bunch of work.

Someone sprayed WD-40 all over everything. It’s a dream come true.

Got the Dremel out with the 443 brush attachment. This is definitely the way to clean switches.

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This is my credit wheel unit. It is on 37 credits, which I think is the maximum. I think this thing is all wrong. What are the switches supposed to look like at 37 credits, one of these bars on the sprocket should open up some switches when it gets to 37, right?

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If I manually push down that solenoid coil on the right, it will start a game and deduct a credit. But pressing the start button near the coin door doesn’t do anything.

Thanks! Well those switches at the top are open right now. So I guess I should close them.

Thank you, I’ll take a look. Hopefully I can figure it out.

@mrm_4, thanks for posting that. I read through it and looked at the photos. I'll mess with my credit unit this evening. I'm pretty sure something isn't right with mine. Those posts don't seem to line up right with the switches when the numbers are at full credits (37) or at zero credits.

This machine is jacked up.

I think I got the credit stepper unit set up, but I can’t get the machine to pull in the credit down solenoid and start a game on its own.

Pushing the start button does nothing.

I also keep blowing a 15 amp fuse that controls the lights in the head.

I can’t get the start up sequence to work right. Time to look at the schematics.

Removed the motor/relay board from the cabinet. Found an old lighter under the board. Haha. Adjusted and cleaned relays again. The coin stepper unit spider gear was upside down, so I fixed that.

Won’t start a game when start button is pressed. If I manually remove a credit from the credit wheel unit, a game will start. It is still confused which player and ball. Lots of times will start on ball 2 and kick a ball out after ball 5 and the game over light comes one.

On the plus side it is counting down the bonus now after each ball.

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I’m thinking I need to start with this highlighted area.

Nothing happens when the credit button is pressed to start a game.

If I’m understanding this correctly, I need to check the highlighted switches and relays.

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I wanted to make sure the down credit solenoid worked on the Credit Unit, so I used a jumper wire to give it some voltage and it fires just fine.

Still need to figure out which switch is the problem with getting the credit button to start a game.

I jumpered voltage to the coin door lockout coil and it drew in. When the coin door lockout coil was energized, the credit button would start a game.

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Switch on the score motor was not energizing the coin lockout solenoid. It now will start games and add players using the credit button.

Next I’m score reel cleaning. 30 year old WD-40 on score reels is no fun.

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A couple of the Player 4 score reels are not working great after cleaning, assembly, and adjusting. I’ll have to check them over tomorrow.

Need to clean and adjust the pop bumpers. Need to clean the flipper mechanisms.

Got a few light bulbs to change.

Very fun to get it playing games after working on it for a few hours every evening this week.

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I’m not a fan of whoever sprayed WD-40 over the score reels, stepper units, and score motor.

Space Mission is fully functional. Gonna strip the top of the playfield, clean, and wax it. Also gonna ultrasonic clean and tumble the posts and screws this week.

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All clean and back together.

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Replaced broken flippers and added a coin door lock.

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Installed the new lock relay coil.
Just need to make a back door for the head.

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I discovered yesterday that player #3 was always getting the 100,000 light on, usually after ball #2. I was able to look at the schematic and see that the 100,000 light relay comes on when the 99,999 score reel switch clicks closed when it goes to the number 9. Ended up that a score reel switch just needed to be adjusted open since it was closed almost all the time. Easy fix and fun that I figured it out. Pretty neat that I’m getting better at understanding schematics.

It’s a fun machine. The pops on this one seem a little lethargic for some reason. Not sure if they are getting full voltage. We might move it out to my daughter’s basement this evening.

My son in law bought it for $450 from an estate sale. I think I spent about $30 to get it to this point. Not bad…$480 and about 10 evenings of my time working on it.

The lessons learned on this one.

1. The Dremel tool with that little wire brush attachment is awesome.

2. Getting old gummed up WD-40 off of score reels, solenoid coils, stepper units, relays, and switches is a lot of work.

3. Ultrasonic cleaning score reels is awesome. Throw the parts in there and let the magic happen!

4. I get better at reading schematics each time I work on a machine. Still tons to learn, but I can usually trace the circuits enough to figure out the series of switches I need to check.

5. If an broke EM is complete, I should be able to get it flipping within 2 weeks.

6. The Pinball Resource is awesome.

Space Mission is set up and working great at my daughter’s house! Moving a machine down stairs is easier than up stairs. Haha.

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