Sony TC-270 drive mechanism issue

Hello,

I've had a Sony TC270 for about 3 years now, and when I got it it was working ok. I havent used it for a while because I've been moving. Finally, today, I wired in the TC 270 and turned it on. All good. I put a tape in it, and switched it to play. The machine wants to go but for some reason, the tape doesnt progress through the heads and on to the wind-on spool. So I gently turned the reels and sure enough sound came out. I kept turning it for a while, hoping that eventually it would just run by itself. And after a while of doing this, it did keep going for longer without my help before slowing down and stopping. I did this over and over again until eventually I gave up.

So ... the problem seems to be the drive mechanism doesnt work properly any more. When I help it along by either gently turning the reels or gently helping the pinch roller to turn, it works. As long as I continue to manually help the machine to turn, and the tape passes past over the heads and the sound comes out. The feeding spool and the take up spool work fine. When I turn the machine to play, the feed spool lets out the tape but it doesnt get taken up. From what I can see, the problem is the pinch roller area - the pinch roller doesnt turn. I've turned the pinch roller by hand, and it turns, and it retracts and extends when I turn the machine to play. I've also run the entire tape through the machine using fast forward and rewind, and both work fine. Its only when I try to play that the transport doesnt happen.

Anyone have any ideas on how this might be fixed? Would be great to get the machine going again.

Jo