Dampening OM-4 Mirror Box Spring Sound

[yessammassey]

I have an OM-4 with a bell-like resonant tone. I can see that the there is a visible spring attached to a lever, just past a cutout in the left-hand side of the mirror box 'wall'. Whenever the advancing the winding lever, or tripping the mirror, I can see the spring vibrate. This visible vibration corresponds to the occurrence of the ringing sound.

I'd think that if this sound was a common issue for the OM-4, there would be more people complaining about it on the internet. I'd like to get rid of the sound. That means either getting rid of the camera, or fixing it.

My only thought right now is that maybe it needs some lubrication, or some dampening substance like Nyogel. Would a topical application be likely to help, or is it more likely a purely mechanical issue?

I have other, older, fully mechanical cameras that make similar noises, but the OM-4 seems to have much nicer mirror/shutter dampening than the mechanical bricks. I'm worried that this sound is the precursor to a degraded dampening system.

Any technical advice? I looked through the readily-available online OM-4 service manuals, but the only reference I could find to anything like my problem was a statement that, when functioning properly, the 'movable mirror' shouldn't make 'unusual sounds'.

 

[MattKing]

My OM-4T is very quiet.
I wonder if someone has serviced your camera improperly.

 

[yessammassey]

I put some naphtha-based lubricant on the above-mentioned spring. It moves smoothly now and the sound is eliminated.

But in suppressing the sound from that spring, I've discovered, there were actually two separate ringing sounds. The first, which occurs when the mirror flips up, is gone now. The other apparent ringing sound seems to be produced when the mirror returns, and when the film advance is wound on.

I wonder if this second sound is coming from the shutter mechanism?