I'd be tempted to swap left and right flipper switch to see if problem moves. Maybe a short across the fiberboard spacers ?

LTG : )™

Just a thought. Is the plastic flipper button sticking in ?

If so remove it, wash it, dry. Stick back in.

LTG : )™

Forget the switches for now.

Check the transistor driving that flipper coil.

LTG : )™

Go into the switch test menu in diagnostics and play with the right flipper button/switch and see if it acts normal (on/off) or stays active (on).

Yes. Bad transistor driving it. Sorry.

LTG : )

You need a meter. Transistor has three legs. Check between outer two, left two, right two. See if it's shorted. Compare to other identical transistors.

YouTube is littered with short how to videos.

LTG : )™

Drive board in the head of the game.

If you haven't done board repairs. Please get good help for this. You could easily cause more harm than good.

LTG : )™

The flipper coil shouldn't have power if the coin door is open and your in test menu?

Doesn't sound like the switch. I was just directing you that way for extra confirmation. I don't know much about transistors and checking or replacing them. But I got my manual out. Ill let ya know if I find anything of use for ya.

Ya. Try the switch test with the high voltage off (coin door open) and see how the switch reacts in switch test.

So I think this thread is sending you on a wild goose chase. If the board transistor is bad, your symptom will be that as soon as you power on the game, the flipper will energize and stay energized until you power off or your fuse blows. Your symptoms are different. It requires the game to be started or switch test to be entered - not just for the game to be powered on. This means the cpu is controlling the flipper and telling it to rise. It is not a board transistor problem. Stop checking for that and move on. This is also not a coil problem.

Based on your symptoms, it's a flipper switch. You should be able to enter the switch test menu you have pictured above and press the flipper buttons and see the changes on the screen. Can you? The flipper switch should not show active unless you're pressing it. Somewhere in the chain, the flipper switch is making contact. It could be at your board in the switch input but it's more likely under the playfield in the wiring. Have you verified that the prongs on the switch aren't touching where the wires are soldered?

Its in the banks of transistors at the bottom of the board above the molex plugs
1000% the problem. The one that controls that flipper is shorted.

300px-Stern_520-5317-00_LE_Driver.JPG

Compare the coilstops to both flippers. If the thing in the middle of the coilstop to the right flipper is loose, that will make the flipper act this way.

sorry the page only loaded one comment when i replied, it is for sure the transistor

Needs to be solidered. Find a board repair place near you, Google it. Or stereo repair electronics place that does boardwork repairs.

Its a $5 or less part. Once you find which transisor is bad with the multimeter. Take the info that is written on it. Find a replacement online or at a local electronics supplier. Also it will only take an experienced person about 2 min to remove and solider in the new one.

If you can not locally get someone to repair it.
Send it out for repair.

Both Marco and Pinball Life sell these transistors. But do what Erak suggests above.
You do not want your first solder job to be on a brand new Stern CPU board.
Find someone local or send it off for repair.

OMFG this thread is like talking to a bunch of folks with no ears or eyes lol. Either everyone is giving the wrong suggestions or the description of the problem is inaccurate. If this is caused by a board transistor as half the people here say is "1000%" the case, then the symptoms are different. Pay attention:

A transistor based problem - as soon as game powers on flipper is stuck on. This happens because the transistor is internally shorted and as soon as the game powers up the flipper becomes energized. Happens even before the game is done booting.

However, if the game requires pressing the start button or going into the test menu, then THIS IS NOT A TRANSISTOR PROBLEM. Instead, it's an issue somewhere in the cpu line where the cpu is telling the flipper to energize. This usually means the flipper switch is telling the cpu to energize the flipper.

But if we have absolutely eliminated the flipper switch (and I'm not sure we have as the photo shows upper flipper switch energized, and it's entirely possible stern switched the upper and lower right flipper switch wires at assembly time by accident) then there are other things that could cause a cpu to tell the flipper to energize. Some might be:
- bad connection on ribbon cables. Resets them all
- bad cpu or battery damage.

Something on these lines. The symptoms are important to diagnose the problem.

Wrong. A loose flipper or bad cool stop will not cause the flipper to energize as soon as the start button is pressed.

At least this is good advice. Always test the transistors with a multimeter before moving into soldering stage. A shorted transistor is very easy to test. On stern flipper transistor, tip of transistor and the metal back plate should not be shorted.

Wrong. A bad transistor will cause the flipper to energize as soon as the game is powered on and will not wait for the start button to be pressed.

Wrong. A bad transistor will cause the flipper to energize as soon as the game is powered on and will not wait for the start button to be pressed.

Then why does your picture show upper right flipper switch active? Actually it shows lower clipper switch active as well.

the game starts as in start button pressed, right? If you power on the game the flipper is down and does not go up until you press start, right? This is the point everyone has missed or ignored. And when you power off the game, the flipper drops, right? Then when you power it back on it stays dropped until you hit start button again, right? If these are not your symptoms please clarify.

Are you the original owner? If so, call Stern. Let them troubleshoot and send you a new board if necessary.

Yea. If this is a problem in a board, it'll be the one you replaced. Not the one with the transistors.

With the game powered off, try reseating connector J3 on the CPU board (the one with the USB port). That connector is for the dedicated switches, which includes the flipper switches. When you remove the connector, inspect it closely for any loose wires. If it looks okay, reseat it and give it a try.

I thought the flipper locked on when you closed the coindoor or pulled the interlock switch as stated in your previous post. Not started a game (pressed start).

Just a though, probably not the problem, and still could be something else. but are the wires solidered to the flipper switch bent and touching.
Or the capacitors that are on them touching or broken?

Since that flipper button controls both right side flippers.
If only the bottom flipper is sticking up and not the away team flipper.

When you push the switch test it should come up with this screen first.
Switch test none.

Then push the button in about 1/2 way and it should read.
R. Flipper button
Then pushed all the way in.
U.R. flipper button.

1421702155695.jpg

1421702800628.jpg
1421702824110.jpg
1421702853550.jpg

?????

So it goes up in test mode if interlock is pulled.

But only if start is pressed when not in test mode?

This backs up a upper switch issue as the flippers are active by flipper buttons on stern games when in switch test mode.

I'm with markmon here as it does seem to be a problem with the switch. It's hard to tell from the pic for sure but it does look like the inner stack is touching which would activate the flipper in the fashion described.

OP - If those are touching with the button at rest then you need to bend them apart so they do not touch.

flipper.jpg

Maybe this will help. Here is what my stack looks like. Here is also a pick of the wires so maybe you can see if something is backwards. The orange wire should go in the inner stack.

ST flip 1.jpg
st flip 2.jpg

I had this exact problem after a couple of plays with my ST premium. The right switch as you can see in the pic above (and stated) is stacked for both right flippers. I just had to adjust the switch correctly. I used the old business card as the gauge and it fixed the problem.

Kudos to Markmon for keeping it simple and proving that all things being equal, the simplest answer wins.

Marc