[Oldsammeh]

Hi All,

I have recently picked up a Pentax ME Super for $20. I knew the camera wasn't fully functional when i bought it, but it came with a flash and 28mm pentax lens in really good condition so bought it anyway as I can use the lens on my k1000.
I've been playing around with the camera, initially the lens was stuck up and i gently pulled the shutter curtain to fix this as suggested by many on this forum.
The shutter however would not fire and I was able to continuously wind without firing.
Since then I have gotten to the point where the shutter will fire every few winds. Often it will make a clicking noise or a spring noise on the return after a wind and then the next wind will work and the shutter will fire.

I removed the plate on the bottom of the camera and found that the wind lock does not engage on every wind but every 2-4, depending.
Sometimes I can get it to engage on constitutive winds if I am lucky.

Image 1 shows the wind lock not engaged despite winding.
Image 2 shows the wind lock engaged after several attempts

Does anybody know how to fix this issue? Is it simple enough to fix myself?
Will it keep reocuring?

Cheers Sam

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[twilhelm]

A couple of weeks ago I took my LX in for a CLA as the shutter speeds were off. At the same time I dropped off my MG, which had the same issue you are having. Here's what I was told:

The problem is in the mechanism in the mirror box, not with the winding gears you have exposed on the bottom. The cost of repairing my MG was between $120 and $150. Since I have the LX, an ME, a Program Plus, a P30t, an MZ-6 and two Spotamatics, it wasn't worth the money for me to make the repair. Good luck with your ME, they are great cameras.

[Ontarian50]

This has been said before, but the ME series bodies were made very small, but at the expense of very thin internal parts. These parts do wear, and lose their ability to latch the shutter or mirror properly. The only viable repair would be to get new parts installed - but they're no longer around. And even if those parts were available, the cost of stripping the camera right down to install and adjust them exceeds what most would be prepared to spend.

These little bodies are now approaching 40 years old, and those that are still working are well past their life expectancy.

[Oldsammeh]

Thanks for the responses guys.
I am happy to spend the time pulling the camera apart and fixing this if possible.
Although if it requires parts which can only be obtained by acquiring a fully functional me super, then I do not see the point.
So if anyone has had experience with repairing a similar issue, would love to hear about it.

Cheers Sam

[RKKS08]

If you need detailed (pictured) repair instructions, PM me.
I cannot put them to this forum for possible copyright problems.

[Waldo1017]

If you need detailed (pictured) repair instructions, PM me.
I cannot put them to this forum for possible copyright problems.

I read the forum & found that I have the same problem where the ME Super only engages after 4-5 winds. Would I be able to get the repair instructions as well?