Hello,

I picked up a Volcano a few days ago that hasn't seen much use since 1999. The guy hadn't even fired it up in 5 months. There is a Rottendog MPU in the game and I have a manual on order to further troubleshoot some things.

After cleaning several leaf switches to stop the ball getting stuck under the playfield, the game is operating up to expectations except for a strange situation that arises randomly.

These two issues advance the player during active ball:

1) During a 2 player game, a ball went into a lit volcano crater and locked the ball, so far so good. Ball 2 is launched and then out of the blue the game advanced to the second player while the active ball was still in play. Then when that ball actually drains, there are now two balls in the launcher.

2) During another 2 player game, a single ball was in play and then landed in the saucer at the top of the pf. It normally kicks out and play continues, but in this random case, the ball did not eject and the game advanced to the next player. I shut the game off, turned it back on and both the locked ball under the pf and the stuck ball in the saucer were ejected and I was able to start the game again.

This issue happens when I have locked the second ball:

While this issue doesn't advance the player, the balls do get stuck under the pf and don't fire back from the volcano. In this case, I locked a ball in the crater, then another ball landed in the same crater, locking ball 2. Ball 3 never ejects into the launch lane, so I had to power down.

I am used to working on older Bally's and this is my first Gottlieb machine that needs work (my Haunted House is running solis as can be with original boards). Where do I begin to track down the cause of this problem? I can't reproduce it, so I don't know what's causing it other than a locked ball seems to start the symptoms. I am many stuck balls under the pf that should launch out from the volcano and I may have to order new switches since cleaning them over and over only seems to help for a few launches, then the balls get stuck again.

Is it possible the Rottendog MPU is causing this? Has anyone else experienced similar problems with this game?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Ryan

Well, I've made some progress. I got under the pf and discovered that the metal support for the volcano crater 1 switch had been severely bent. Someone must have caught it on something and pulled it apart from the normal position. I saw a bare ground wire hanging off the switch and it turns out that was ripped loose when the switch stack got bent. I found the shielding in the base of the cabinet and resoldered the ground and the switch activates properly now and I can actually get multiball!

I also adjusted and cleaned as many switches as I could, but am still having the player advance during active ball issue that seems to be activated when either:

a) I land in the saucer when the lit value is to be collected - but not always...

b) I get a flurry of back and forth between the lower pf slingshots and pop bumpers and all of a sudden it's the next player - again, not always...just once in awhile

The drain switch and ball trough switches have been adjusted and cleaned and don't appear to be too loose where slingshot vibration would cause a drain switch to activate.

I played a bunch of games in a row last night to try to force the player advance, but I just kept getting multiball with very few hanging balls stuck under the pf.

However, while the game is actually really fun to play now, a new issue has cropped up. If I light the fire pit for the extra ball, and land in the fire put to collect, I hear the sounds, the knocker goes off like it should, but the shoot again lamp doesn't light and I am not awarded the extra ball. What might cause something like that?

Thanks!

I got my manual and went through the dip swtich settings and it was set for novelty mode! A few others were incorrect as well. Switch 29 was on, but the manual says off, but doesn't say what it does. I played a few games and it seemed to be better, but on one of the last games, I landed in the first crater hole with the lamp lit and instead of locking the ball with a 'lava rising' prompt, it locked the ball and advanced my ball from 4 to 5 during active play. I'm stumped. Any other ideas?