Phonoland

There is a problem with my mech on my DS160... but I think I can get through it as the book has pretty detailed instructions.

My question surrounds some trouble shooting I did.

I was getting ready to pull the Universal pricing unit to start going through it... but I decided to pull the top panel off the selector unit on the backdoor and trip the solenoid there to see what happened.
This solenoid is behind the panel in the top right.... not on it. I cannot find it in the manual, so I have no idea what the proper name for it is.
It stays in place when you pull that top panel to the selector unit off and is behind the mounting for the selector unit.

When I depress the solenoid there, it instantly scanned and pulled a record... not a selection... just what seems like a random record, the record plays. After, the mech just spun. I tripped the mech and it scanned to another record, pulled it and played it... it was Cher and just awful... but I let it play, it slid the record back and started to spin, so I tripped the mech again, it scanned & grabbed a 3rd record and played it, finished, put it back and spun... when I tripped the mech this time, it scanned then parked... no more spinning.... does nothing. Cant credit or select.

So I tripped the solenoid behind the Selector unit again (top right), it did the same thing with 3 different records.

Now I am confused. First... why it is selecting random records? What is this solenoid and what does it do? Why when tripped does the juke play, but no other time?

This does not fix the issue of credit/selections not latching... but not sure where to start here. My inner tech tells me to get out my multimeter and test the solenoids. But before I start doing things when I am not sure what I am doing, I thought I would toss this out here and see if anyone has experienced this?

It was nice to hear it playing... you know, except for the Cher song... it wasnt even any of passable stuff... just a cast off B side hound...lol
Thanks

Hi,
I'll start with your last "question"--"--where to start--".
I strongly suggest that you start by reading the "I & O, Service Manual", and my "Seeburg Mechanism Guide".
Doing so, will give you an idea of how this phono is supposed to work.
It appears that the "solenoid", you ask about is the one located in the top corner of, "inside" the TSU, that controls the 117 VAC to the motor and the transformer on the amp for the 5U4 tube. If so, that whole assembly, with two solenoids, is refered to as the "Play (or Scan) control assembly". This assembly is shown in the parts book, and on the TSU schematic. I also included a photo of it, and an explanation of it's operation in the Mech Guide.
If playing a "random record" when that solenoid is energized, it most likely indicates an electronic failure, in the TSU--or it can be an electro/mechanical failure on the mechanism.
Ron Rich