It sounds as if you're saying that the right flipper won't fire at all in test mode or tournament mode, is that right? The other option is that the flipper fires, but the system doesn't recognize that while you're cycling through the menus.

When did this problem appear? Have you ever had the machine working correctly?

Do you have a copy of the manual? Can you follow schematics well enough to validate the wiring?

Both the left and right flippers are switched on and off at the same relay. It's possible that a dirty relay could cause either side to not work, but I can't think of a way that would follow tournament/test mode. I think either the bad side is less consistent than you think, or someone has hacked your machine and it's not operating as designed.

In the cabinet, on the right side is a relay marked 'Q' that switches power to your flippers. That relay may be either dirty or faulty, and cleaning it might fix your problem. I can look at my machine tonight and provide some details on how to clean it if no one else chimes in.

Which right flipper? Upper, lower or both?

viperrwk

Gottlieb never used a solid state flipper drive. That basically means there's nothing in the electronics that could cause the left flipper to work independently of the right. The flippers always switch on and off together. The Q relay is the only point of failure that could cause both right flippers to not flip, while the left flipper still does.

The sensor board detects when the flipper is active, and passes the flipper state to the switch matrix. The CPU reads this signal, and navigates the menus accordingly.

Your problem is confusing me because you're describing a problem with the Q relay that comes and goes as you cycle in and out of the menus. I just can't imagine a failure mode that would cause that to occur.

Not that familiar with Gottlieb so bear with me.

While it's normally best to consider all symptoms, there are those times where this will lead you down a dead end (as in this case). When that happens it's best to focus on one symptom that should be solvable.

In this case I would focus on the right flipper not working in test and leave the tournament issue for later.

I would presume that the diagnostics input (flipper button pressed) comes from either a stacked switch or (I think in System 3) the flipper sensor board. Whichever, I would start there. Hopefully rancegt can chime in here with more specifics.

Sorry, but with no schematics can't be more specific.

Hi Terry,

You basically have it right. The trick is that the sensor board won't know anything if the flipper doesn't fire at all. I asked about this early on, and he seemed to say that the flipper isn't flipping at all in test or tournament mode. If the flipper is flipping, but the menu isn't recognizing the flip, then we go down the sensor board/switch matrix path.

Hey rancegt.

I read it as he can't navigate the test menu using the right flipper button. The flipper wouldn't actually fire while navigating the menu, would it?

But I clearly could have read his meaning wrong.

Now you're making me doubt myself, but I'm pretty sure that my flippers fire when I'm in the menus. I'll have to check when I get home. I'm positive that my wipe out wouldn't read the flipper switches when I had no flipper coils, but on the schematic I can't see why that would be true.

If the left flipper doesn't flip while in the menus, and the sensor board really is good, as it says above, then the problem would almost have to be A15P1/J1-Pin 6 at the sensor board or it's associated wire. I think anything else would cause other symptoms.

Don't do that. As I said I'm not that familiar with Gottlieb, just wouldn't think the flippers would fire while you're navigating the menu (based on logic, not knowledge).

Flippers fire on Sys3 when in solenoid test stepping through each solenoid. If OP is saying left flipper fires all the time when stepping through the menus then there's a different problem. But OP really hasn't clarified what the problem is.

viperrwk

Congratulations on the tough find. It doesn't seem like System 3 calls out a switch that hasn't been used for a while as bad, though it would be nice if they did. I guess this proves we should always expect unusual stuff when we get new games.

This thread has made me really start to wonder why my flipper buttons didn't work on Wipe Out without the coils. I guess I'll have to experiment and see if I can replicate that sometime.

That's because the player can perform a switch test before starting a game - no need to enter diagnostics.. Hold down the start button and hit the right flipper button before entering a credit. It won't work in freeplay but its a great feature for location-based games.

viperrwk

Thanks for the post. I had the same problem. Who would ever guess that an issue with switches 22/32 would cause a problem with the right flipper. It's such a problem too because without the right flipper there is no way to run diagnostics or do the switch test that the previous poster shared.