Originally posted by Philoslothical I think what happened with my K-r may be that a gear or belt broke in the mechanism that raises the mirror. I was fiddling with it last night and when the motor does its thing it seems like it can't raise the mirror, so perhaps I was off base blaming the shutter.
I'll probably take it apart, and while I know there's no rational reason to wait, I'd just feel better about waiting until I have a replacement in hand. If nothing else I could photograph or video the process so I have breadcrumbs to follow when reassembling it.
With your above avarage shuttercount you prove one interesting thing:
The white Japan solenoid lasts super long!
I myself would not hesitate to use it again within a K30 or similar.
Disassembling a K-r is pretty straight forward, it is almost identical to the K-30 but on each side there are 2 hidden screws under the rubber,
the other hidden screws are under the pop-up-flash, behind the rubber eye-piece and one in the batterychamber. When the bottom is off, there is
another screw there if I remember rightly. It is long time ago that I had to disassemble one and I took no pics because the K-r doesn't need a
tutorial as its solenoid is never in danger.
If it developed the mirror-flop, no fix possible! I had one with it, it is an electronic problem then.
So you have 1 or 2 donor solenoids (at least in the EU and Switzerland all K-r and K-x had a green solenoid in the flash-circuit, so I am curious about yours) which you also just could sell on ebay but even if you'd buy a new Pentax such as the K-70 you'd better want a solenoid in reserve.
My K70 developed aperture failure and I have repaired 2 other K70's which got it after the 2 years warranty we have here.
But I have to say, I never came across any K-S1, K-S2 or K50 with this problem built after Dec. 2015!
But all
post PRE 12/2015 Pentax bodies with solenoid within larger family and friends (K30, K50 and K-S1) got it!