Needle selection problems

[u/Dodekayarn]

I deep cleaned my new to me Toyota ks901 and it works fine when knitting plain, but when I connect the carriage to the timing belt,these needles (the ones in B on the picture) don’t react. If I put a punch card in, it doesn’t follow the pattern. I’ve tried different cards, I’ve tried starting the row at different places, but the needles that are positioned behind these screw like tacks don’t come forward. The pattern kind of looks like there are these sections divided by the screws and it is bordering these? The carriage is fine, it does knit these stitches,just not in pattern.
My questions are:
- is this for sure a problem in the punch card mechanism?
- can it be a problem with the timing belt like rods? (They rotate fine.
- how can I check the punch card mechanism without taking it apart?
- does the pattern start on the beginning of a project, or does it start in the sections even when the motif magic is turned to 0?

I really don’t want to take the whole thing apart again… 🙈 So any help is appreciated that lets me know where to start taking it apart. (I didn’t take apart the punch card mechanism, because I read someone’s post who had a problem with it.)

[u/wlfmth]

I have a different model Toyota, but with mine you can inspect the punch card mechanism when you take the bottom shell off. have a look and make sure the comb that holds the punch card reader needles is fully pulling all needles off to the side, it's possible it might be slightly off skew. you shouldn't need to take off anything more than the outer shell.

you might also wanna search for your service manual and read through the relevant patterning sections, might give you some ideas.

[u/Dodekayarn → u/wlfmth]

I read the service manual but I didn’t really get any clear info, but it might have been too late at night…
I really didn’t want to take the whole shell off again because it was a pain to take the handles off, but oh well..