The topic didn't catch my attention so I am a little late to reply on this
matter. My sold LX had the same problem and I decided to tackle it myself as
Pentax Melbourne repair service was hopeless at the time. The MLU locking
mechanism is built-in with the self-timer assembly. What caused the problem
is the metal piece with a hole guiding the multi-purpose lever is worn. This
causes the moving part of the MLU mechanism on the self-timer assembly
doesn't move clockwise direction enough to lock the mirror. Now, if the wear
of that hole (a piece of small metal held by 2 tiny screws, or 3??) is not
severe, you can alter its position (to the left) a little for it to work
again. However, shifting it too much will cause other feature (don't
remember the detail) not working so don't overdo it. If the wear is severe,
you have to buy the whole self-timer assembly and extract that piece of
metal to replace it (unless Pentax has that piece of metal to sell, you have
to look up the LX parts manual which I don't have). This is a very easy job.
You only need to peel off the leatherette, remove the lever which is held by
a few screws, then you have complete access to that small piece of metal.
Just remember to test all functions of the lever before you apply the thread
lock.
Regards,
Alan Chan
http://www.pbase.com/wlachan
Playing with the LX the other day, and it seems the MLU doesn't want to
work.
The mirror goes up, but won't stay up. In other words, when I release the
multi-function lever, the mirror comes back down, rather than staying
locked up until released.
I'm not worried about it at all, because it's a feature that I would rarely
if ever use. But, it's cool to show friends ("See? See all the things my
camera can do? The prism comes off just like this, and the mirror locks
up, just like this...").
I'm guessing that something's merely out of adjustment, or maybe a bit
dusty or something. In any event, I'm not going to do anything about it
until it goes in for a routine CLA or some other servicing.
I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem, and if so,
how it was resolved.
cheers,
frank
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