Hi there,

I picked up a Space Mission that "worked fine when we put it in storage". Needless to say, it doesn't work fine now and seems to have a number of issues that all together are tough for me to diagnose. Basically I don't know where to start. Here's what happens when I turn it on.

1) There is no playfield GI when plugged in. Backbox lights fine.
2) Reset button resets reels and serves ball to trough.
3) Plunging ball will activate all of the playfield features (bumpers bump, kickers kick) but none of them score points or activate chimes. Interestingly, when it tries to score points from activating features, the playfield GI does flash briefly.
4) The swinging target swings and activates when hit, again no points are scored.
5) When drained, bonus counts down without scoriing on reels, and the ball is served up again without advancing player or ball.

I've checked all of the relays to make sure the switches are aligned correctly, although I haven't gotten into the score motor or reels. Any advice on where to begin would be really appreciated. I'm willing to try anything, including reading the schematics, I just need to be pointed in the right direction. Thanks a ton in advance.

Thanks for the replies! I cleaned the jones plug connectors as you recommended and noticed that whoever connected one of the jones plugs in the cabinet had done it one position off. I fixed that and now I have playfield lights! I'm moving in the right direction. The other issues - chimes, scoring, etc. are still there. I will investigate the Jones plugs a bit more, but it might be something else. I'll also check the lock relay switches. Any other ideas for investigation?

Update: I've adjusted some additional switches and have made some progress. I can now add credits and start 1-4 player games. The ball will serve up to the shooter lane. It's also started scoring points! Some points, anyway. The 100 point reel works when 100 points are scored, but the 1000 point reel is not working. I see that when the 100 point relay causes the score reel to turn over to 0 that the 1000 point relay locks on but doesn't release. It doesn't fire the 1000 point reel. I don't think it's a score reel problem, because the same thing happens whether I am on player one or player 2. I checked the score motor as best I could but I think it's working okay. Any ideas? Strangely, my chimes are not working either. I did check the Jones plugs in both the cabinet and the head and they seem fine.

More success! Thanks for helping me to continue focusing on the 1000 pt relay. The 10, 100, and 1000 were all gapped correctly and I thought that it must be another issue. Turns out that my cursory cleaning with a flexstone wasn't enough. When I pressed on the chime switches in the score relays I was finally able to hear a small *ding* from one of the chime units. With a more vigorous scrubbing with the flexstone on each switch they now all work. Everything is scoring off of the playfield correctly now. It was wierd, but the 100 pt "latch" problem seemed to be from a dirty swtich as well. It feels great to make so much progress. Now to tackle the ball and player unit issues. Balls do not count up and players do not switch back and forth reliably. Onward and upward! Thanks for the help guys, you rock.

Sorry for the delay, but I've been out of town and unable to work on my Space Mission. One thing that I am noticing is that the Player Reset Relay doesn't seem to do anything when activated. I can activate it using the EOS on the ball count unit or push it by hand and it doesn't seem to do anything. I doubt it's the coil on the stepper, what do you think? What should that Player Reset Relay be doing other than stepping up the player unit? Thanks again!

I've been working on this and found something new. The ball continuously stays on ball one after it drains, and it just kicks out another ball. I noticed that the ball index relay does not fire when points are scored. When I manually actuate the ball index relay, it locks on. The problem is that when the ball drains, it doesn't go to ball 2, it goes to player 2! Any ideas? TIA