there are 3 common ways that TO-92 transistors are pinned out, ECB (american, like 2N2222), CBE (european, like BC547), and ECB (japanese, like 2SC2240). the only way to tell the difference between an american pinout and a european pinout, other than a datasheet, is to do a zener breakdown test to identify where the emitter is.. a reverse biased E-B junction will act like a 5 or 6V zener. this can be tested with a 9V battery, a 100k resistor, and a multimeter. you are sure from multimeter tests that the center lead is the base. are you sure the transistors are the proper polarity?. if so take the 9V battery, and solder one end of the 100k resistor to the + terminal. from the - terminal. connect a wire that goes to the - probe of the DMM and an alligator clip. connect the open end of the 100k resistor to the + probe of the DMM and another alligator clip. the DMM should read about 9V. when connected across a forward biases B-E or B-C junction, the meter will read about 0.6 or 0.7V. swap the alligator clips between the transistor wires. a reverse biased B-C junction will read open circuit (9V), and a reverse biased B-E junction will read 5 or 6V. the BE should be ok after this test because the test current is only 30uA.