So I am fairly new to the hobby and just acquired a T3 (Thanks PDXMonkey!). Loads of fun and everything works perfectly with the exception of the 4 flashers on the back panel near the T-X and Arnold. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that some of the red domes over the flashers were melted a little. Not a good sign. Got in the back and 2 of the 4 bulbs were shattered and 1 slot was empty. Okay, just need to add some working flashers in there and we should be good. Nope. Even with good flashers, still no joy.

Yesterday, I picked up a DMM and I must say that I was pretty intimidated by this thing. I am fairly mechanically inclined but when it comes to circuitry, diodes, capacitors and fuses, I am out of my element. But if I want the T3's RED Mode to really pop, I should go deeper. First, I pulled all the fuses out and did a continuity check on all of them. All good. What next. Time to check the wiring. This was a bit more of a struggle with trying to get to the back panel of the play field while connecting the other end to the molex connector. After some time, I indeed did find that the wiring was consistent in the lower part of the play field. Now to check from the molex to the back box. Wiring seems good and we have continuity. I remove the molex from the board and start visually inspecting.

Then I see it. Something doesn't look right. Q30 looks a little browned and cracked a little. This has to be my problem. Such a great sense of accomplishment to know that I had no idea what I was doing but was able to just deduce my way through it. So if you are a rookie, a DMM is a MUST.

Anyways, on to my question. Not having much experience with soldering, is swapping one of these (also, can someone give me a name for this, I would be grateful) too difficult if I had the right tools? (Decent solder iron, solder sucker, etc.) Is this a DIY job or shall I ask some pin repair guys in the area to help me out? I have done all of the leg work and know exactly what needs fixing. I would just hate to slip and "ruin" the board or something.

Thanks for the advice!

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How far are you from Portland?

Thanks so much for the generous offer. I am about 3 hours away from Portland and my machines are kind of difficult to get in and out of my room. Especially since most of my friends aren't close enough to help me load it up. Still, really appreciate the offer for help.

Thanks all! Yep and pretty sure that all 4 back flashers are on Q30. Screenshots for conformation.

Maybe I will get a a junk board and see how it goes. I think I will need a new soldering iron because the one I have is just the 10 dollar Made in China special which I imagine doesn't regulate the heat very well which I hear is pretty important when working with circuit boards.

For this effort, I may reach to the pin community in my area and see if I can get someone up here to do it for me. Can someone link me to the part that I would need to get for this? Marco has tons and I am having a hard time reading what is on this bank.

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So my brain wasn't even thinking that way, but you are right. Transporting the board would be much easier I do have the manual and should have looked there for sure. I need to start learning how to read that thing.

So Markmon... are you going to be attending the NW Pinball show in Tacoma? You think this is something we can do at the venue? I would be happy to buy you a beer(s) for your time. Thanks again for the help everyone.

Not to resurrect an old thread but wanted to wrap things up and give some credit out.

So I picked up a soldering station and started practicing on some old boards lying around. Results were less than encouraging. Didn't give me much confidence to operate on my own board. I'll keep practicing but slow and steady wins the race.

Been chatting with Pinsider Boryguard since I knew he was going to be travelling to the NWPS to sell his goods as well as do some onsite repair work. While I was around playing all the great pins at the show, he was able to get my transistor swapped out but it was more difficult than expected. The blown transistor had created quite a bit of charring on the back of the board. So he had to do some minor surgery on it to ensure it wouldn't short again. After retracing the leads and installing the transistor, he ran some quick tests and seemed to be working fine. BTW, Boryguard's test rig is mighty impressive.

Got the board home and installed it. Went to the service menu. Ran test on coil Q30. Flashers didn't fire Now my other flashers weren't firing either. Rats!.

Then, stupid me looked down and saw that my coin door was open! Closed the coin door, fired the flashers. All are working! Awesome. Thanks Boryguard for your time and skill and great service!