You need to have a closer look to check out whats going on it could be a easy fix.
Sounds like the unit will need to be overhauled, probably gummed up over the years, could be done from under the playfield but best to remove for a strip & clean, its not terribly hard just time, effort & research.

Hi @combi4 , Welcome to pinside!

Are you referring to the game Surfer or Surf Champ?

What you describe could be an electrical or a mechanical problem. I'll need to know what game you have to tell you more.

Do you have Surf Champ, 4 player game by Gottlieb. Lift playfield and check to make sure all screw/bolts are tight on drop target bank. I had a game that was doing what you described and that's all that it needed.

I have the entire drop target assembly if anyone needs it

Hi Combi4
I pick the 220Volt - 110Volt problem. I live in Switzerland, Europe, 220Volts (by now rather 230Volts). Please do not yet work on Your Surf Champ "220Volt problem". See the JPG - my Surf Champ set for 220Volt. Big question: Does Your pin looks the same - especially: IS THERE the Adj-Plug ? After You have answered I may have to say "Sorry - I can not help" or hopefully I then can proceed in talking "220V<->110V". Greetings Rolf

0Surf-Champ-mine-Transformer-Work-01 (resized).JPG

It's unlikely your drop target unit is beyond repair. They are reasonably serviceable - just need time and patience - bonus is that afterwards you'll understand how it works! There are plenty of resources out there - here's a video going over the procedure:

Perhaps I have good news here. I had literally the exact same problem and I was able to solve it myself. Although mine is 120V, so I can't speak to the 220Vpart of the situation.

First let me state, Surf Champ is my first EM that i purchased with many known issues. Also, prior to that I have no pinball experience, although I've been studying feverishly for about 6 months now, so I'm learning and I'm making progress (in many cases doing exactly what you are doing with help here). Just take what i say with a grain of salt, as I'm no expert.

On the drop target one you are experiencing....I tried all sorts of things but attribute my ultimate success to the following:

1) Adjusting the "throw" of the coil plunger. Easy to do, but needs to be done exactly right. Loosen the screws on the coil, you then have the ability to slide adjust the coil forward or backward to impact how high it pushes the targets up. In my case, with the bracket loose and coil stop in the far away position, I needed to push the plunger manually all the way down (not the bar -- which I tried first, no, literally put your finger on the plunger itself (not the connecting rod, the plunger itself!!!) and push it as far down as it will physically move...all the way, no slack), then holding it there, move the coil stop to just meet the plunger. Then clamp the coil bracket back down. After that, inspect to ensure this is not forcing the targets up too high posing a risk to breaking off the "feet" on the bottom of each. In my case this was not an issue at all...I need all the throw I could get and didn't have to worry about that. Anyway, After I did that it has reset fine ever since, but I'll mention other things I believe also may have contributed in a positive way
2) Take a q tip and 91% alcohol (be very careful with the red surfer girl graphics, as you can very easily wipe it right off!!!), and clean the grunge off the targets where they slide through the bracketry down below to smooth that action. Tons of dirt in there on mine adding friction.
3) If 1 and 2 don't work, try looking at the tension the reset "fingers" apply to the switches on the back of the unit as they make their way up to the reset position. In my case, there was a lack of uniformity as to when/where the finger contacted the leaf switch on the way up. also there was lack of uniformity with respect to how much pressure was being applied by the leaf switches on the way up. Before I won the battle with step #1, messing with this to reduce friction on the way up did provide me some improvement, but be careful as it seems to me that too little tension on the way up isn't the right answer either...need to find the right balance. Too little friction, caused me to loose progress, so I went methodically and reversed some steps if I say the wrong reaction.

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions on that or want further clarifications.

I forgot to mention one other thing...check the solder joints on the target reset relay tabs. On mine, one was weak and ultimately came completely off, which required me to resolder it back on. That may also have conceivably been contributing to reduced power to the coil before it totally failed. Just trying to remember everything I went through along the way to fixing that issue...

No problem. If it were me, I'd run through the steps that worked for me before completely removing (and especially disassembling) the unit to see if that fixes the problem. In my case there was dirt that could be cleaned up with it in place, but the coil and plunger and the basic mechanism was working quite freely...depends on what's going on for you as to how to proceed. In the absence of a major gunked up unit, I'd be worried a more wholesale change would be likely to introduce further variability that will be even tougher (especially for a novice like me) to contain. Just my 2 cents Best wishes...I'll be interested to hear how it works out!

What do you mean by "slack"?

Hi Combi4
thanks for Your picture in post-14. We see the bakelite adj-plug. See my JPG here - in the upper left corner we see the drawing of the primary side on a 110 / 220 Volt transformer - TWO separated windings of equal length and equal thickness - the W1 and the W2. Wires go to the socket of the adj-plug - to "1", "2", "3", "4" --- the socket "5" has no wire soldered-on.
The bakelite plug has four plugs - "A", "B", "C", "D" --- WHEN You look at the adj-plug in Your Surf Champ You will see "A connected to B" and "C connected to D".
We can plug-in leftbound, for 110VAC - "A into 1", "B into 2", "C into 3", "D into 4" and the "5" is empty. We can plug-in rightbound, for 220VAC - "A into 2", "B into 3", "C into 4", "D into 5" and the socket "1" is empty.
Look in the JPG, upper right corner - plugged-in for 220VAC - all electrons (220VAC) must travel along my "red lines" through both windings (W1 and W2). Look in the JPG, lower right corner - plugged-in for 110VAC - some electrons (110VAC) decide to travel along my "blue lines" - other electrons decide to travel along my "brown lines" - just 50 percent of the 110VAC electrons go "blue lines" and 50 percent of the 110VAC electrons go "brown lines".

Now comes the sensation - plugged for 220VAC the stuff acts as an "Voltage-Divider" --- plugged for 220VAC we can grab 110VAC in the middle (at my "M"). So all the stuff in the pin operated by 110VAC can operate (adj-plug plugged for 220VAC).

Combi4 - toggle-off Your pin, unplug the line cord (Safety Reasons) - look at the adj-plug - is it plugged-in rightbound (for 220VAC) - plug "D" is plugged in into socket "5" - AND socket "5" has no wire soldered-on. Please for thre moment - ONLY look and report. Greetings Rolf

0Orbit-Work-31 (resized).jpg