Originally Posted by irishrose
I assume you have oiled everything several times and put lubricant in the grease tube. My 301 was very dry when she arrived, but now sews very well. We are FMQ tonight.
I second this advice. Also, do you belong to the We Fix It yahoo group? They call themselves 'shade tree sewing machine mechanics". There is also a Singer yahoo group for the slant machines.
I sort of know how you feel because I bought a FW that didn't run properly when I first got it. The machine ran really s-l-o-w and then when I took the carbon brush out to see if it needed replacing, I must have put it back in the wrong way because then it didn't run at all even though the light was still working. I eventually was able to fix not only the foot pedal but also figured out that the carbon brushes need to be in in a certain direction. Good luck and don't give up yet!