Janome MC4800 vintage?
 

In any case... when I bought this machine I swear I was told not to worry about oiling it. Fast forward to the last year or two and the seeming machine tech told me I should keep it clean and oiled. Cleaning is fairly logical and I had kept that up but there are no instructions on how to oil it in the manual - or otherwise keep it maintained. A ploy to get the machines in the shop?
Anyway what do I oil?

Have the tech show you what needs to be oiled.

Edit: I looked up the manual for the MC 4800 and it doesn't say anything about oiling it. I'd double check that with a Janome tech.

Hi Suzzy Q,

That Janome isn't vintage, but that's OK. All sewing machines need oiling, but these newer, drop-in bobbin machines don't need it like a front-loading oscillating hook system. You can remove the needle plate, then remove the bobbin case, and clean the lint out. Then, while you're in there, you can oil the feed dog linkage and put some oil in the center hole under the bobbin case. You can also open the end cap (left side) and oil the take-up linkage and needle bar (which is notorious for freezing-up on that particular machine). You can also open the service panel on the bottom, clean that out, and oil wherever metal rubs on metal. You can remove the top lid, then remove the set-in top of the machine to get to the upper shaft -- oil both ends and the crank that connects to the lower shaft. Sewing machines are machines, and machines need oil. A machine like yours would be happy with being oiled once or twice a year. Your machine is harder to get inside, than the old mechanical machines -- you have to be careful not to disconnect any circuit board cables. If you just clean the bobbin area after every-other project, that makes a big difference in stitch quality and overall performance.

Although certainly 'older' I don't know that it necessarily qualifies as 'vintage' in the traditional sense. Since it appears that there are digital/electronic parts (at least from my very quick google search) I would suspect that any necessary oiling would be done by a service tech.

I have a 10+ yr old Viking that I, too, was told did not need oiling. As an end-user/consumer - no, do not oil...that issue is dealt with when in for a routine service. That said, I've probably only had my machine in the shop for general service (or anything else for that matter) maybe 2-3 times since I purchased it as the original owner. No issues.

I suspect this may be the case with your. Depending on it's last service, it might be worth the $$ to have a thorough dusting & cleaning when you have no imminent projects on the horizon. That's when I take mine in as it's usually up to a week for general service.

I have this machine and was told not to oil it. My concern is that doing that myself, I could get oil into the electronics and mess things up. The only "oiling" that mine gets from me is when I clean it. A bit of sewing machine oil on a Qtip swabs out the bobbin case. Then down into the spaces that the Qtip can reach. The only problem I've had with my 4800 is with the mechanism that winds a bobbin. When I've taken it to the tech for that, he has commented about how clean my machine is for the amount of sewing it has done. Sometimes I think on updating but then I look at the prices of new machines and wonder what I was thinking. My 4800 still does almost everything I want and it's pretty reliable. We're good friends!

I have this machine and it is certainly not 'vintage'. Whenever I clean the bobbin area, there is a small wick that I put a drop of oil into. Keeping the lint out and wiping down is basic to any machine. It is as much of a work horse as my 6600.

Thanks for the input. I cleaned out the bobbin area and feed dogs and it sounds so much better.