So, we were having a good time playing JP late last night and getting tons of System Failures, and the auto launcher stops working. It has been fine since we got it in June, but the balls started stacking up in the shooter lane and wouldn't go anywhere. Took off the glass, did the tests, and the coil doesn't fire. I found the below thread (Lloyd is everywhere) while looking for info. I haven't checked the fuses yet, but don't know if there is a particular one to check.

https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/rec.games.pinball/VqOoe0_xlbA

What should my first steps be to correct this? Check for fuses, then if that is ok order a coil? I have no idea what size/style to order despite already poking around on PinballLife. Any and all advice is appreciated.

We did the coil test, the auto launch is the only one not working. Everything else has been working fine both on diagnostics testing and game play until it just suddenly stopped launching mid game and would keep ejecting balls into the shooter lane.

I checked all fuses the other day when I did a battery swap, but I just didn't know if there was a specific fuse or area of fuses to check for the coil. I mean, there are ones in the cabinet and backbox, so didn't know where to start checking. I can do them all again if needed of course. I've got replacement fuses in my pin tool kit waiting if needed.

We pulled the playfield up and checked the area for broken wires, and didn't see anything. Everything looks properly soldered, and it was holding up fine through at least 10 games in a row with I know of 4 Sytem Failure modes (where it rapidly auto ejects 6 balls for 45 seconds) before it stopped mid-game.

It kept shooting balls in because that is what the mode was supposed to do. It relaunches the balls back into play for that mode, and then when the clock ran down it stayed partially in that mode looking for 'lost balls' since they didn't drain (because they were in the shooter lane.) We took off the glass with the game still running, and it would start doing a ball search telling me how many were missing. I replaced one trough switch awhile back and everything has been fine. We ran the tests and then didn't start it back up to see what would happen on a new game since the coil wouldn't fire at all during testing. The gun appears fine, no damage to the trigger that I can see. It was being played for a good 2 hours before it suddenly stopped working mid-game, so nothing happened to it trauma-wise that I can determine.

When we get home from work, I'll fire it up and see what happens when it is cold. If it still doesn't work, we'll start checking out the wiring again.

I don't know about DMMs and grounding, so I'll have husband check your post to see if he knows how to do that. I'm just learning how to diagnose/fix and what to look for, hence the regular cries for help on here. I really appreciate the info and we'll start with your suggestions for sure. I checked everything I knew to check at the time then came running here to the pros.

It's alive!!!!

Came home, popped the hood, checked wires. They looked fine yesterday and today, but when I tugged a little bit on the purple one, it came out of the sleeve and out fell a piece of solder. It apparently snapped but was being held together by the sleeve so appeared fine. A quick solder job later (with no help from husband, so not great but I am learning) and it works. It is always stupidly satisfying fixing one on my own. (With internet help of course, and husband on stand-by.) Thanks again for the suggestions. Karma for all! image.jpg image.jpg