I bought a Kenmore 158.17741 the other day, but although it looked great, I found problems when I tried to change stitches.
I oiled everything according to the manual and it all seems to move freely when I move things with my fingers, BUT...there's a long list of problems - maybe related. (I put a short video online to show some of what's happening:
https://youtu.be/BDy05qClySQ My phone ran out of space before I could film everything).
Here's the list (sorry if I don't have the parts names right - I'm one step from doohickey and whatchamacallit):
- Reverse does not work. The push-down switch moves easily, but usually doesn't do anything (it did randomly work a couple of times). If I move some parts inside, it sometimes slightly moves some parts in the top part - nothing happens underneath the machine. After trying to use the reverse, it sometimes sticks so that it ONLY sews in reverse. Again, moving things inside seems to restore it to sewing forward. The reverse seems to be a common issue for Kenmores, but I haven't found a clearcut solution. Most talk about jams from old oil, but everything seems to move freely, just not enough. I've looked at the parts blowup on the Sears site and it looks like all the parts are there, including springs.
- The top plate of the cam follower is sluggish and doesn't follow the cam pattern. (The machine has a removable metal cam with a white side and green side to control the built in stitches. To use the decorative cams, you remove this metal cam and replace it with one of the pattern cams). If I get it into position so that the arm is against the cam, it moves back as soon as it passes one projection and then doesn't follow.
- The stitch modifier lever sometimes moves the cam follower and sometimes seems to be entirely to the side and doesn't touch it. This model has a lever that has a red dot on the left for straight stitching and a white arrow, white dot and green dot on the right. I'm not sure how to line up with the different marks on the right, particularly the arrow. I changed the lower knob for the stitch selector so that it corresponds to the stitch modifier. For example, if I pick a green/white pattern on the bottom, I turn the stitch modifier lever to the green and white dot side. It still doesn't work.
- The pattern cams work intermittently. To use them, you have to remove the metal cam that handles the built-in green/white patterns, which I did. Sometimes I get something close to the pattern. I can't tell what's happening when it works, because I have to put the top back on to actually sew.
I don't know if this is beyond what I can do, but I'd like to try to fix it. I'm a lot more comfortable with treadles!
Thank you!