Just picked up The Simpsons Pinball Party. Looks like maybe the delivery damaged some things.

1. Left Main Flipper
- Sometimes doesn't work
- Sometimes drops then pops back up
- Sometimes drops the ball if I am holding a ball
- Sometimes hits very wimpy, almost doing nothing

2. Left Upper Flipper
- Same as Left Main Flipper

3. Garage Door
- Sometimes the ball hits the door and it doesn't play " Get in the garage" notification.
- Sometimes when hit, the door only opens a little "each hit"
- Sometimes when hit again it will close.
- Whenever the above happen and the ball makes it into the garage it will go all the way and come out the left ramp avoiding the upper living room.

Any ideas? I am still a noob pin-tech. But doing my best to learn. Any help would be amazing.

Thanks fattrain, haha I love the game so far, when it works correctly I am sure I will love it even more.

I notice that the left button mechanism is different than my right. I took some pictures last night. As well, I notice one spring looks sprung out compared to the functional right side. Any ideas for the garage? When I get home from work I will get all grease monkey on it. Hope I find something loose for captain obvious.

buttonLeft.jpg spring.jpg

Thanks tracelifter, tonight I will get under the hood and see what I find. When you say new sleeve, what is that exactly. For the (L) flippers should I be also looking under the upper play-field's left mini flipper? Or will the problem be just on the main level?

Great advice, thank you both. I will update this post tonight. What would I do without pinside people? I would be doomed lol...

Could that be causing Main & Upper Flipper problems? When I looked at the right side EOS the spring looked solid. Not stretched like this photo.

*Sorry this was suppose to be pinside mail not a post, dont know how to delete a post..*

Hey Fattrain, how did you get your hands on a 2013 Predator pinball? How do you like it, was curious how it turned out. I have only seen the whiteboards.

OK I have some photos.

I took HD photos of the left and right Flippers. Seems the previous owner has 2 different buttons. Left side is really bent over. As well by the coils the (Left Bad side) has a huge gap between the leafs. Should I bend them by the coils so they are closer?

coil.jpg buttons.jpg

Question. I know on Bally/Williams the leafs are suppose to touch when the button is pressed. In my case on the Stern when the arm pivots nothing happens, the arm doesn't touch, hit or close the leafs.. They stay separated. Arn't they suppose to make contact just like the buttons do? Will confirm before I do anything. I assume you can blow a coil if this is set up wrong.

Thanks phishrace, since this was DOA yesterday, I would assume the company I bought it from will honor replacing these parts. They noted that this machine was restored by a professional via electronically and mechanically. Really nice dude so lets hope he stays nice. So far I am a bit unhappy with my purchase considering all the electrical tape I see around the machine and these problems day one. I will keep you posted.

@ Tracelifter I cleaned the coil for the Garage door and seems to work for a bit. Then same thing. So I ordered the new coil that Stern had a service update for the Garage. Hope that works. But the flippers are DOA it seems.

@ phishrace, Looks like in the manual (attached) the leaf is clearly suppose to be touching on idle/unpressed state. Then when the arm swings over its suppose to break connection. Should I just try bending it so they touch by default? Strange, why would the right side work if that one is also not touching be default/idle. I don't want to blow anything up, so I will wait to confirm that the leaf ends are suppose to be touching on default "Not pressing a button".

leaf.jpg

yup, I just noticed that it was a setting. Was trying to delete my post haha In terms of, should the leafs be touching be default or should they be separated? I want to test them by bending them to touch but want to confirm before I break something.

Thanks ab3, I think my TSPP is a 2003 and the photo above is showing my machine off and the leafs really far away, clearly not touching. Attached is the same photo highlighting the leaf not touching. So, what you are saying is they should be touching and I can go in and bend them a little so they touch at default and open up when the arm hits the tab.

nottouching.jpg

ok, I went in and bent them so they touched. Bit ugly but they make contact and the hammer separates them when button pressed. So far, Whoo hooo!!! I will play bunch of games and see if it solved the problem. I will go ahead and bend the other side as well.

holy shit!!!! congrats! I now have a chance to score points with my shit working right haha. Time to get a new beer and get my game on

Doh, its back. It lasted for a long time and now its back to randomly not working. And now the solenoid that pops the ball up to the upper playfield sometimes isn't strong enough to get to the top? However, the flipper is working in longer spurts before it will give me a hiccup. So, it's more playable but needless to say if you are in a high score game and you lose a ball cuz the flipper did not fire. is serious.

thanks ab3, do you know if TSPP uses the same size sleeve for all solenoids and what size are they? I am on the train to work right now so I can also check when I get home. if i increase the strength couldn't that overload the solenoid?

Thanks ralphwiggum, when I get home I will check out the vuk. Thanks for the notes it will help me comprehend what I am looking at For the garage door I will be replacing the solenoid with a (Stern 090-5036-OT/24-940 Coil) as well for the times where the ball doesn't go up to the living room and just takes the left ramp instead. "bracket between the ramp and guide may be bent". As well I noticed last night the ball was not staying in the couch. It would go up and just fall down. Sigh so many problems, I feel like I bought a fixer-upper not an $4k overpriced restored routed POS. The price should have been $3.5k or less. Oh well, at least I am learning how to fix stuff with all your help.

Fantastic Advice, Thank you very much. Thanks for the pics you really got that playfield clean. Some day I want to clean mine. Lots of wax buildup under the plastics. and $2.5k is a damn good deal! I use to live few miles from you in Milwaukee. I never noticed any pins in any pubs or anything.

Below is the current list of problems followed by comments.

1. (Garage door)
After cleaning the sleeve it worked "better" but still bad. You mention the plunger is suppose to be flat at the end? Mine was rounded all the way around. So perfectly rounded that it looked like it was suppose to be rounded and not flat?

2. (Ball not going up to living room and takes left ramp instead)
I read that between the ramp and the guide a metal braket is probably bent inwards. (Will investigate)

3. (Couch "sometimes" not holding balls)
Thanks for the input. I will do exactly as you mention above.

4. (Ball cant make it up to the mini playfield without some wiggle help)
Thanks for the input. I will do exactly as you mention above.

5. (Left main & mini flippers sometimes dont work)
I have bent back the leafs on the coils. They now touch, however they dont touch perfectly like the working right side. The left side touch at a slant, so not the best contact. I will order new leafs for the coils and buttons and see if that helps. As well, the coil and arm seems to be ok, no sloppy wiggle. (HOWEVER) I have not cleaned the sleeve for the flipper coil yet. Could cleaning the sleeve on the flipper coil help my irregular flipper?

Once again, Thank you everyone!!

As well. what is this plastic tube? It was just laying loose at the bottom of the cab.

Clear Plastic Spacer 80MMx 1/2 Inch OD Simpsons Pinball Party

tube.jpg

Thanks again You rock!

I found these EOS to replace on the coils -

1. http://bayareaamusements.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=BAA&Product_Code=BS-180-5124-01

or

2. http://www.amazon.com/End-Of-Stroke-Switch-180-5149-00/dp/B0090823IU/ref=sr_1_2

However I am trying to find what Flipper Button Switches I need. As well ones that come with the transistors or fuse or whatever them things are that arch at the bottom of the Flipper Button Leaf Switch. I dont have my manuel with me.

MAYBE THESE?

1. http://tinyurl.com/p5xyr6g

or

2. http://tinyurl.com/nrpse7k

or

3. http://tinyurl.com/popunhw

Thanks Phishrace, I will wait on my order till I get home to confirm and get the part numbers. I do know Stern had the service update for the Garage Door. Will take a look and see if I notice more service updates.

Ok, I clearly cant focus on work. My brain is full on pinballs. I found a PDF Manuel (B&W) - http://mirror2.ipdb.org/files/4674/Stern_2003_The_Simpsons_Pinball_Party_Manual.pdf

Ok good news.

The Coil EOS are: End Of Stroke Switch - Stern Pinball 180-5149-00
End_Of_Stroke_Switch_-_Stern_Pinball_1.jpg

However, for the Flipper Buttons in the manuel it says (2) Flipper Switch 180-5160-00 but this is a single switch. Dont I need the x2 stacked for upper and lower? Notice in green it says zero but in the diagram it says left uses single and right uses stacked? So confused what ones I am suppose to get. (two) 180-5160-00 or (two) 180-5164-00 or (one of each) lol
page.jpg

This is the x2 stacked in the page above 180-5164-00 (What my Right working Flipper Switch is currently) with Disc capacitors.
500-6890-01.gif

I also found x1 Single switch 180-5160-00 with Disc capacitors.
500-6889-01.gif

Again, Thank you all for taking the time to help me. I cant express how grateful I am for all the help from everyone of you. I hope some day I will be able to return the favor by helping others with their problems.

Just to sum up my extra long comment above.

The above documentation says I only use (2) Single Switches. Currently my Pin is using (2) Double Switches. I assume since I have the 3rd flipper on the right I would need a double for that one. But since the left only has one (Not including mini-playfield) I would use the single. However I do not trust my opinion yet.

So I either Buy:

A. (BOTH) Flipper Sw X2 Stack for Lwr/Upr Flippers #180-5164-00

or

B. (BOTH) x1 Flipper Switch - Self Cleaning #180-5160-00

or

C. (ONE EACH) x1 & x2

Sounds good, one of each it is. And these come with capacitors attached.

Now I impatiently wait for them to be delivered like a child trapped in an adults body lol.
I even tossed in some Pinball Wizard License Plate frames. lol
lic_plates2.jpg

But I will try the sandpaper trick like Talphwiggum mentioned. I did previously try running a card a few times but I bet light smooth sandpaper will work better. Regardless the 4 parts will be replaced.

Next on the list is the mini-playfield and couch lock.

>>> Thanks Pinball Masters! <<<

Oh man! So, this was just rolling around in the cabinet. I assume it was never put on. - heading to the manual now...

oh I see, it pretty much keeps the flipper spaced and from falling down? Maybe it was an extra... will find out tonight.

Woot! ok sand paper worked. I ran in on Flipper Switches and the Coil Switches. Thus far, I have proper flipper action. Funny part is, I just fixed that and started playing. I almost got on the score board at 25mil. And the couch drops my ball and game over. hahah. So I took your advice and now the couch works correctly. Thank you

Question. My flashers do work. However when I go to test my flashers nothing lights up. But in game they work? Am I doing something wrong?

ahh the door open makes sense, because they have an anti-Electric chair feature. What I love about this game is the oodles of stuff, its so complicated I love it. Cant wait to unlock the goods.

About the couch, it was fixed. As it seems the solenoid will slowly kick & bend the stopper each time. (got couch Multiball 3 times I may also try bending the tab that's in front of the plunger so it doesn't fall out of alignment which is the problem for me. This is pretty flimsy metal to put a solenoid on, I was able to bend it with almost no energy. Part of me is happy I got a lemon. Even if I was ripped off, learning is good when I have great teachers like you guys.