I'm hoping someone can help me diagnose a recent issue with my BR.

Lately transistor Q22 and fuse F2a (2.5A SB) have been blowing during coil test:
- all coils test fine until it gets to coil 16 (left eject hole), where I this coil does not fire
- on the next cycle through the coil tests coils 01A (outhole kicker), 02A (ball shooter lane feeder), 05A (flipper post, upper playfield) and 08A (centre eject hole) no longer fire, and the right most flasher on the head stays lit all the time (transistor Q22 has blown) - note that coil 08A (centre eject hole) is also controlled by Q22

Here's where it gets interesting:
- schematics show that there is a common brown wire (switched solenoids) to 01A, 02A, 05A and 08A and it is that way on the game
- schematics show that there is a common red wire (controlled solenoids) to coils 9 10, 11, 12 15 and 16 (left eject hole), but 16 is in fact brown and connected to the other four switched solenoids.

One other thing to note is that, when I replace the F2A fuse and then turn the game on, the fuse blows again, but not before you hear a loud bang (like the knocker going off) on the right side of the cabinet under the flipper button. This is also where the line filter box is located.

Anyone with a BR could you please check the wiring to see if the left eject hole does have a brown wire and not a red wire. The other wire should be brown-grey.

Otherwise, there must be a short somewhere but I can't isolate it.

So that suggests the left eject hole is actually a switched solenoid, not a controlled solenoid as per the schematics. What other coil would it be switched with I wonder?

For the record, this turned out to be a bad Q22, pre-driver Q18, U19 and U28. The centre eject hole coil lugs were making contact with the coil bracket just barely - it was installed facing forward instead of to the side. Over time, this resulted in a cascading storm of nastiness that took out the board components. Fortunately, the PIA was spared.