I've made huge strides on my Whirlwind restoration and look forward to posting my process soon! The last remaining issue I have involves the ball diverter on the toll bridge ramp. When the ball lock is lit the diverter is supposed to move the ball into a holding section that ends the storm and allows for multi ball.

There is a small coil that moves the divider. The coil is reading strong at 70 volts. It appears to be in mechanically good shape. The two toll bridge switches also are working. I can not figure out why the coil isn't being activated during game play? All other coils are operational.

Could this be a board issue? A diode that has recently burned out? I would be very appreciate for any possible solutions-- Life is terrible without being able to end the storm!

No, it's the actual coil not being activated. I checked the diverter and it is mechanically tight with the coil and spring. I am a little new to pinball restoration, what actually causes the coil to be activated?

Update:

I've continued to play the game and have tried to diagnose the issue. I've attached a photo of the diverter coil, I hope the wire coloring is correct. When I first obtained the machine, that wire was loose. I recently re-soldered it.

I'm starting to think there may be a software/signal issue of some type that is affecting the operation of the coil. Apparently the right toll-ramp is supposed to lift up and down every time the ball enters the cellar but it doesn't. It remains in the down position. The ramp is, however, fully functional when multi ball is activated. How could this be?

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Update 2: I can't believe it! After looking at the schematics I followed the wiring (brown and green). I traced the path, unplugged (and re-plugged) the connecters, and tested the diodes and other components with a multi meter. As I've said, this is my first pin and I don't really know what I'm doing.

All of a sudden the diverter is now working. Im thinking that perhaps there had been a bad connection somewhere either in the recently soldered solenoid or within one of the connectors to the cpu. The diverter did not previously fire in test mode but now it does.

The ramp also fires perfectly in test mode. I noticed the ramp switch (which is part of a very complicated assembly) has a metal piece broken off. According to the manual, the metal switch lever is much longer. I will attempt a repair to the switch and update soon. I suspect this is what is causing the ramp irregularities with the cellar operation.