D40x underside
Pic from John C Ayr
UPDATE. I have added the D40 repair manual and parts list at the bottom of the post. This has diagrams to help you disassemble the camera.
Do you have a D40x with showing the error ‘Error. Press shutter release button again’ and the shutter won’t function when the button is pressed?
The following procedure is what I used to get my D40x working again, many others have since done the same, most with successful outcome, some not. But as with any unauthorised fix it could go wrong and render your camera useless.
I thought it was worth a shot, because the cost of repair was more than a new camera!
What you need:
- Get a very small cross head screwdriver (watchmaker size)
- Silicon Grease or a can of WD40
- Sticky tape
- A good light
Remove the Battery and SD card
Take pic with another camera or make a note of the location of all the screws, so when you come to reassemble you don’t the screws mixed up (some are different sizes).
Open up the bottom of the D40x putting the small screws onto the sticky tape in order of removal.
Now look at John C Ayr’s pic of the D40x above, in this picture the metal plate has been removed if you still have yours attached you should still be able to see the red and white plastic gear wheels.
These small gear wheels drive the shutter. The problem seems to be (at least with mine) that they become stuck and/or have too much friction for the motor to drive the shutter.
I wanted to apply some Silicon Grease to the gear wheels but I didn’t have any to hand so i used some WD40 spray.
Silicon Grease might be better as it will cling to the wheels and provide lubrication for a lot longer than WD40. But saying that my D40x is still running fine months later. The only thing to remember is DON’T USE TOO MUCH, if any drips down iinto the camera optics you might get big problems.
Spray a SMALL amount of WD40 (or Silicon Grease) onto the red and white gear wheels.
Put the battery in and hold it down to make contact, next put in the sd card and switch on the camera and try the shutter button. (switch it to manual focus or it might try hunting around for ages for focus)
It might start working, if not try and move the red wheel a few stops with your finger or a small screw driver and then try again.
Once the gear wheels are lubricated and the wheels move it should be ok.
Keep taking some test pictures until you feel it’s ok and no more shutter jams occur.
Then reassemble following the screws backwards on the sticky tape remembering that some are different lengths.
Enjoy your D40x once again
PLEASE DON’T COPY THIS TEXT TO ANOTHER SITE, JUST LINK HERE TO THIS BLOG POST!
I’m not liable for any damage that could be caused by this procedure.
My site at www.jacko.co.uk
maybe grease from old vhs,cd or dvd-machine is a better soulution? one of my friends has just fixed his camera with a help from this site.
but the fact that he lives in the arctic and uses the camera outside and inside with too much temperature change mader the grease evapourate?
hehe he says it sounds strange without grease.
yea, why not if you have an old VHS or DVD player lying around why not give that a try!
I am glad it worked for him, my D40x had no grease on the gear wheels from new. So maybe that’s why after sometime it wears and the motor won’t drive the shutter.
jacko0 thank you for posting but i have to ask how little should id be putting on the gears and where to i spray? i will use the red straw on wd40 on this. Did u use a dropper or something or you just went straight spraying a WD40 right away? My D40x just got this problem today and I do hope this will work as it make total sense that the gear wont turn due to so many clicks.
I used WD40 as that’s all i had. But silicon grease might be better as it will stick longer to the wheels. If you use WD40, only use enough to fix the problem. I used about two quick sprays and made sure nothing dripped down into the body of the camera
Jackoo
Your remedy worked superbly. I did not have to remove plate.
I used WD40 and instead of spraying directly onto wheel I coated a small artists brush and gently applied.
Keep up the good work—you just saved me £100.
Select any image from either of my web sites and I will send you an A4 print.
Cheers
Alan http://www.gatehousestudio.co.uk http://www.mycosmos.co.uk
Jacko – really appreciate you taking the time to post this advice. I’ve just followed your instructions, got to the stage needing to remove the metal plate, and then couldn’t as I don’t have the right screwdriver. Can see the red wheel, and have given it some WD40, do you recommend I still try to remove the plate to get to the white wheel?? Thanks.
Hi, as long as you can get some lubricant onto any of the two gear wheels you should be ok. Just give it a go and see if it fixes it.
I don’t think you have to strip it right down.
Hi Jacko! Thank you for your help! The D40X camera is working again!
I used a silicone grease. I hope the result will be lasting
Again: thank you!
Endre, Hungary
Well done for fixing the problem!
Thank you very, very much for this fix. It didn’t work the first couple of tries and I couldn’t remove the metal plate, but now it’s been working great again!
Good job!
Glad i could help
thanks for the tutorial – sadly it would still jamm after a couple of photos. Since the warranty time is over anyway, I just drilled a hole in the bottom to help me out for now. It allows me to poke the red thingy if needed. Luckely, that part is close to the body.
[http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4055/5141724567_1f1ac6440b_b.jpg]
[http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1078/5141724573_5324c6871a_b.jpg]
If it works for you why not! Just watch for dust and dirt getting in the hole.
Hi Jacko, just stumbled across your blog looking for a solution to this issue, thanks for posting this fix.
I was a bit wary of spraying WD40 directly into the camera body as there are quite a few electronic components quite close to the inner silver plate not visible in the above pic.
I took a slightly more cautious approach and sprayed other items in the workshop that needed loosening, and then applied the drips of WD40 that remained in the nozzle straw directly to the red gear that was visible through the cutout. I did this a few times and allowed it to penetrate with the body resting upside down.
You might want to consider submitting this fix to ifixit.com as it seems to be a fairly common issue with the D40X shutter assembly?
Anyway, nice work, thanks again for sharing!
Jacko -
I also wanted to thank you as well. My D40x suddenly got this problem the other night and I was afraid I was screwed. I am happy to report that my camera seems to be working fine again thanks to your instructions.
A couple of notes – I found the diagram on page 6 of the manual you linked to to be particularly useful – it shows which screws go where, and that there’s only 2 sizes (for the bottom cover anyway).
Like the other commenters – I could only see the red gear since the metal plate was still on and covers the white one – and being paranoid and not handy – I was scared to try and tear down the whole camera to get at the white gear.
So I wound up lubricating just the red one. I found that it would work for a shot or 2, then freeze back up. Juggling the red gear with the screwdriver would un-stick it again. I tried several times dripping a tiny drop or 2 of the silicone lubricator on the gear, then firing off several shots until it froze up again. Finally after about 10 rounds of this, it quit sticking altogether. I put the bottom cover back on and have taken 30-40 pictures since then and it seems to work great again!
This whole repair cost about $5 too – in case any other non-handy types are interested to know what parts I bought that worked great-
Screwdriver – $2 – 7 pc Precision Screwdriver set from Walgreens – “UltraTuf” – 16305. I used the middel Philips screwdriver (#00 x40mm) for everything.
Lubrication – $3.50 – Needle-Tip Precision Lubricator from Radio Shack. 64-2301A. Seems to be a Teflon-based lubricant. Packaging says it’s suitable for electronic equipment and will remain almost indefinitely. The needle-tip really made it a snap to put just a tiny drop on the gear.
Anyway, thanks again so much for taking the time to post this fix! I would almost certainly have had to send it in to Nikon for an expensive fix, or bit the bullet and bought a new camera. Instead I have my camera back for less than $6. Awesome!
Just an update – it’s been a couple of weeks and the camera is still working perfectly. We took at least a 200 photos over the Christmas weekend – no problems at all.
your the best…thanks for the info:]
Hi,
I have a Nikon D5000 which I have had for 3 months and now that we have some cold weather my camera wont take pictures. The shutter releases but nothing is stored on the card. I also found out that in live veiw I get a black screen. It has been back to Nikon and they found no fault. So I tried it again and sure enough it fails in cold weather. The shop I bought it from says its probably cos of the cold, “they are not designed for sub zero temperatures”. The sub zero temperature is about -2°C. Its away at Nikon again now but I am sure it is faulty, how could they use them in the arctic?
Any comments I could use on the shop would be appreciated.
Regards Ken
i hope my D60 will work
i haven’t done anything yet but i’ll try to put silicon grease.
Hi
Thanks a lot for your instructions! Worked nicely for my D40x and was easy to do with this information.
Just done this myself on my D40X, worked perfectly first time. Many thanks.
At our camera repair shop, we have had several major repairs from customers who followed this advice, and caused severe damage to their D40 cameras. One gentleman lost his rear LCD, and another (who was an engineer) scrambled his Image Compression PCB, which is an $800+ part.
It sounds like some folks have managed to get a working camera, but I felt compelled to remark how many people have made a small problem into a very big problem by introducing WD40 into a camera that is never intended to have any lubricant like that anywhere.
It’s not my intention to argue with anyone who has had success, but just to present another perspective. Those gears were not designed to be lubricated with oil, and WD40 is not a camera lubricant.
The Mad Hatter was pleased with his results when he opened his pocketwatch and smeared butter inside. I still don’t recommend this approach.
Thanks for your advice on this subject. I realise that this is not a approved fix, but for some people, including myself, it was a risk i was willing to take. I have now added a warning to the blog to remind people that it could damage the camera even more. The way i look at is, the camera was broken anyway. I was not going to pay £££/$$$ to get it repaired, so either junk it or have a go myself.
@LeZot -
I’m curious to know how you repair this problem at your camera shop? Do you replace parts of the shutter mechanism? How much do you charge?
For me, it was pretty simple math to try this fix. I could take the almost 4-year-old camera into a shop and almost certainly pay at least a couple hundred dollars to repair it – but considering the fact that I could buy a new, upgraded body for about $500 – it was not going to be worth it to me. If I could get a couple more years out of my D40x for next to nothing, it was worth the risk. I was a little worried about the WD-40 as well – but the silicon-based lubricant I used seemed to work great. It’s now been a couple of months, and I’ve taken at least a couple thousand pics with no more problems.
Also, you mention that customer (who was an engineer) ruined a $800+ part trying this fix. Considering that he could buy a newer and better body for less than the part you mention, I hope that’s what he did.
Thanks again to Jackoo for saving me a lot of money!
Omg! You are the best! I fixed it with no problem! Thank you so much!!!
Jacko, I have a d40x that I’ve had for 3 1/2 years. I started having problems about 1 1/2 yrs ago. I hit the shutter and nothing, but I never got the ERROR. I’ve sent the camera and lenses in and always came back with nothing found. I was told that the Nikkor lenses are cheap adn to buy a good lense to fix the problem. I can hear some type of gear noise which I never heard before. When new, I took the camera on a 3 week vacqtion and took 7,000 poics with no problems. I’ve also found that the sport mode doesn’t work and was told there was nothing wrong with it. Thinking about switching to Canon. Any ideas.
thank you a lot! it worked for my 40x also!
Completely worked for me. I used a toothpick to apply the spray, and I have taken hundreds of photos since the fix. Thanks!
Our World around us would be a much better place if more people like you would exist. You have saved my VACATION.
My husband and I leftSo.Cal a week ago. I took about 1000 pics these last few days. We are touring the US. got to New Orleans and the problem appeared. Thought it might be caused by the high humidity… Stopped at two camera shops and called Nikon….all said to send it in….while on a vacation?…:(((
So, my husband found you. Purchassed a $1.00 small screwdriver at Ace….and with your help, we saved about $250.00
Of course I have a backup camera…..not comparable though w. The D40X. THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!
I am glad it worked for you! I was on vacation in the Rocky Mountains a few years ago when I got the dreaded error, unfortunately for me, I had no idea how to fix it until I tried when I got back to the UK!
Hope you took some good pics
I have a D80 with what I think is the same problem, it happened before and I got it fixed for about US$140, and now it’s happened again maybe two months after. I tried opening it up but I don’t see a red gear only very hard to reach white gears…sigh…I tried as best as I could to get some WD-40 on them but I’m not really able to move or touch them…has anyone else had any problem with the D80 and how did you resolve it??
I love my D40, but am saving for a major upgrade so professional repair is not one of my options.
I also don’t want to be camera-less in the meantime.
I tried this, and got to the point where I could reach the red gear, but not the white gear which I am assuming is the actual problem area here.
I was stopped by a stripped screw which prevented me from getting to the metal plate that would allow me both visual and physical access to the white gear.
Applying lubricant to the red gear was useless, if that tells you anything about the extent of my issue.
Any tips to accessing the necessary gear? Or any other quick fix options?
I am just needing it to last another month or so as a necessity. If it lasts longer as a back up-
super!!
Thanks in advance!!
I have the same problem as you do. I would love to know how to get to this white gear.
how about cutting the cover with a box cutter as to be able to take the cover off. there would be a crack in the cover, but i there are enough screws to hold the cover on even with the crack.
Hey this worked for me last week, but then I used the camera again today and it happened again!
frustrating. I will try your technique again
Bought a used D40x off ebay for $175 after researching this for days. ive always been one to fix things myself. couple bucks for silicon lube and worked perfectly. on comes fall, colder weather…. Again! im not giving up yet..
Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences and suggestions on this thread. I also had this problem, D40x body, and was able to take it apart per the suggestions and lubricate the “red gear” (though with lithium grease, not WD40). I was able to get the camera to function again, but only for tens of photos, after which it would get stuck again. I noted that the gear seems to turn quite easily (through several revolutions) for some mirror positions and but for other positions. This suggests to me that the friction is not in the gear, but elsewhere in the mechanism. In any case, at this point I’m thinking that an unreliable camera body is useless to me, so I’m planning to replace it. I did go back and make a rough count of the number of shutter actuations, I’m guessing for me the number is between 65,000 and 75,000. Thought I’d share that bit of information since I skimmed the many responses but didn’t see any mention of usage level – maybe the D40x body is only good for 65k photos?
When the error message popped up I feared the worse but thanks to you guys my beloved camera is up and running again. Saved me an absolute packet by enabling me to fix this problem by myself. Danke danke danke.
I tried using WD40 on the gears but it only worked for 10 photos. So I took it apart again and looked closely at the white gear. The side surface of the white gear has metal contacts that rub up against a metal “disc” on the clear plastic piece next to the white gear. The metal “disc” has gaps where the metal stops then starts again and I think this is what triggers the shutter. It looked like one of the contacts was bent back to where it was not contacting the “disc” so I took a toothpick and bent the contact back to where it was supposed to be. This appears to have worked as I have taken a couple hundred photos since without any issue.
Camera shutter locked up again. I will take it apart one last time and use grease on the gears to see if this works…
How do I get the metal plate off?
I have d40x & found somebody elses site before yours. I used wd-40 & then got nervous when I read you shouldn’t use it. It’s trying to work by taking 1 pix but then I get the error again. Should I now try the grease you mentioned or just keep rotating the gear back & forth? I didn’t realize the gear would need lubrication, duh on my part. I’ve had my camera for about 5/6 years now & this is the first time this has happened.
Please help!