Gottlieb Force II - help needed please!

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mbudman
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Gottlieb Force II - help needed please!

Post by mbudman »

I have a Gottlieb Force II system 80 pinball machine.

All the boards have been rebuilt and certified. When I turn on the machine, all the displays light up immediately. After a few seconds, the machine flashes and the high score or last game score flashes as it should.

I can add a game and the machine plays music when a credit is added.

I can start a game and again the machine plays the music.

I can only start one player (display is 0), and nothing works. It appears that the game is permanently on tilt. No scoring, no ball eject, no flippers, etc. Playfield lights are on.

The tilt relay under the playfield (top) seems to be set correctly. If I move the switches on the tilt relay around, all playfield lights go off.

The coin door tilt relay switch is on the closed position.

The counterweight tilt switch within the cabinet is open.

The tilt switch under the playfield is also open.

I cannot run diagnostics.

It seems that the machine is permanently in tilt, which seems to be why I can only start one player and then the machine is dead.

I disconnected J5 from MPU and the machine appears to boot correctly (a few seconds before scores light up.

Any suggestions on how to fix?

Thanks,

Mark

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HPR Pinball
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Re: Gottlieb Force II - help needed please!

Post by HPR Pinball »

If you disconnect the tilt mechanism is the game ok?
Maybe a diode broken in that mechanism.
The video game i want to play is always the one i don't have :FP:
Les arcades, j'suis tombé d'dans quand j'tait pti !! :-)

mbudman
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Re: Gottlieb Force II - help needed please!

Post by mbudman »

How would I go about disconnecting the tilt mechanism?

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Re: Gottlieb Force II - help needed please!

Post by HPR Pinball »

mbudman wrote: Fri Jun 18, 2021 3:39 pm How would I go about disconnecting the tilt mechanism?
Cut or desolder the wires that goes to the switch
The video game i want to play is always the one i don't have :FP:
Les arcades, j'suis tombé d'dans quand j'tait pti !! :-)

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sylvain
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Re: Gottlieb Force II - help needed please!

Post by sylvain »

On those machines, I always check, in addition to the above tilt checks mentioned:
- proper number of balls present in the through (2 for Force II)
- with power off: check all fuses including inside cabinet and under the playfield to ensure they are good and of proper ratings
- with power off: check inside all connectors MPU-driver, and cabinet & playfield switches connectors to the MPU to ensure all pins present and not corroded or broken, with good pressure
- with power off: check every switch matrix germanium diodes on the small boards inside cabinet and under the playfield, with a DMM in the diode test mode
- perform ground mod - at minimum, add extra pins/wires to double-up the ground (and +5V) wires in the MPU-Driver harness.

This machine apparently needs an updated game EPROM (661/2 instead of 661/1) to fix some 'losing track of balls' issues,
according to some posts found via Google and TNT YouTube vid on this game.

Does the Q relay (Game Over) activate when starting a game? (Game over light stay on?). If not, there will not be power to solenoids and flippers.

Good luck!
-Sylvain.
Looking for Bally Star-Jet, The Wiggler, Williams Magic City, Grand Lizard, Swords of Fury, 1986 Pinstar Gamatron, and a few others.
Collecting & repairing electro-mechanical and solid state pinball machines with quality and care for 40+ years already.
Serious and fun hobby, powerful nostalgia !

mbudman
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Re: Gottlieb Force II - help needed please!

Post by mbudman »

The inclination tilt ball has been removed. I will check some of the other suggestions.

Thanks!

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