The manual plunger gives a weak shot or not enough to send the ball up the lane, and it feels as if the tip of the shooter rod is hitting the metal auto-launch arm.
Manual plunge weak or dead: shooter rod tip striking the auto-launch arm
Cause: The shooter rod assembly and the auto-launcher are out of alignment, so the rod (or its e-clip) hits the auto-launch arm instead of the ball. This can happen if the shooter housing works loose, a printed shooter-lane part moves, or the playfield sits slightly to one side.
Checks
- With the glass off, push the plunger slowly and watch where its tip meets the auto-launch arm.
- Check that any add-on shooter-lane guide has not moved forward.
Fix
- Loosen the shooter rod housing and shift it until the rod clears the auto-launcher, then retighten.
- If the game used to work and nothing is loose, try shifting the bottom of the playfield slightly sideways in its side-to-side play instead.
Games
Source: Pinball Repair help group!! (Facebook group)