Williams Lucky Ace (Williams, 1974) Ongoing problem. Please Help Me Out!

[GreatBazunka]

I have had this Williams Luck Ace machine for a few years now, and it has worked fine up until a year or 2 ago. That was when i moved it from my parents house to my new house. After the move i set it up and tried it. Now i am getting different problems that i cannot track down. The main issue that i see is that when i activate the coin switch to add a credit, the game begins its startup sequence but never seems to finish it. It will either not kick the ball out, sound the knocker multiple times, or keep adding balls to the game until the ball counter reaches its limit. Another thing it does is this. Sometimes the startup sequence works fine, but when it comes time to drain the ball it does something different. Sometimes the ball counter goes down by a few, sometimes it runs down all the way and shows me "game over", and sometimes nothing happens at all and the game just sits there and the ball never kicks out. This is all happening randomly after i try to play one ball.

I am really in need of some help or ideas with this because i have tried everything i could think of with this machine. I have the manual and schematics, and i know what i am looking at, but for some reason this issue really overwhelms me. I am a mechanical kind of guy but this it really confusing me. Please, if anyone has any help to offer it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Shockman]

Sounds like the outhole switch, or a ball trough switch sticking.
If not mechanical, check the transistors on the board.
Did you clean it up before starting it up?

 

[GreatBazunka]

I will check those things. I did clean everything i could and it didn't seem to help. Something must have gotten knocked out of wack in the move.

 

[sleepy]

It will either not kick the ball out, sound the knocker multiple times, or keep adding balls to the game until the ball counter reaches its limit.

I'm not a pinball tech, so be aware.
Does this machine make the knocker sound when adding coin credits?
Could be a loose or dirty coin switch or faulty coin switch relay circuit, or the contact on the ball counter rotor, or a combination of several loose or dirty connections.

Or the power supply connections might be loose or corroded.
Is there any visible corrosion on the circuits or contacts?

 

[pinballdaveh]

this machine is an em machine it does not have circuit boards or transistors. when moving machines and the head is removed the male multi wire jones plugs sometimes do not get re-installed correctly and pushed in tightly , this can create all kinds of problems. next check the ball count unit is it sluggish or working correctly

 

[faralos]

go here and download the schematic diagram
or go to the red highlighted pin for the schematics
(williams 1974 Dealers Choice is the same pin only set up for four players)
http://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?any=lucky+ace&search=Search+Database&searchtype=quick#1483