Ball won't kick out from home position

[shastacompact74]

Hi everyone, I have a 1978 gameplan sharpshooter. We haven't played it in a few months and now suddenly the ball will not kick out from home position. I ran a diagnostic check and the solenoid worked fine, when the weight of the ball is resting at home position everything seems to be making good contact. What else could it be. It tried bypassing the switch that controls the solenoid but nothing changed.

[Pinball Shark]

Have you checked the connectors on your boards? Use a volt meter continuity checker and trace the switch wire back into the backbox and its connector. Old connectors can be the culprit of a lot of things. Try that and see what happens. If not, we'll try something else.

[shastacompact74]

I will try that and see what happens. will keep you posted. Just curious why the solenoid would work during diagnostic test

[Pinball Shark]

Well, the solenoid test simply shows that the SDU board is working and the coil itself is good. The MPU needs to activate the outhole solenoid during the game with the activation of the switch in question. The J5 connector on the MPU is the connector for all the switches. Check the continuty between that outhole switch and the connector, then the connector to the MPU.

[shastacompact74]

Thanks for the info. After a little wire tracing, finally found the problem at the connection going into the head, one terminal in the plug not making good connection. Thanks Again.

[Pinball Shark]

Great! Glad I could help.