Mamiya 645 Pro TL Shutter won't fire!

[Brenballs]

Hi Folks,
I'm hoping someone can help me here with some ideas.
I just purchased a Mamiya 645 Pro TL on eBay and I'm having trouble with it.
I bought it with the 70mm 2.8 leaf shutter lens and it has the AE prism finder 401 and the power winder.
The reason for my purchase is that I wanted to replace my crappy 645E body with a better match for my 80mm 1.9 as I didn't like the screen nor the non-prism finder of the one I had.
Anyway, it arrived yesterday and I can't get the shutter to fire, although it did fire maybe 3 or 4 times out of the several hundred attempts so far.
I have literally tried everything and at this point I am pretty sure its just a fault with the camera, but I'll let you know what I've done and see if anyone else has any nuggets of wisdom!
I have tried 2 sets of fresh batteries for both the winder and the camera, and they all check out fine with the battery checkers.
I have ensured I am not using the exposure lock on the front - have tried both normal mode (white square) and timed mode, no luck.
Basically what's happening is that I will half press the shutter, the meter will show its reading, and if I fully press the shutter, there is a small delay and then I hear a tiny click from inside the camera, as if something is attempting to initiate the shutter firing but failing.
When I load film, the winder will load it correctly to the first frame, but naturally since the shutter is not firing, the film wont advance past that point.
The darkslide is removed, and it is placed in the holder (and left out of the holder as a test too).
I've tried shooting in all the modes, auto exposure as well as various speeds including bulb, to rule out a connection problem to the AE prism.
I've tried firing the shutter with the back, the lens, the prism off and all combinations of these attached. (it should fire with nothing attached and film loaded once I don't have auto exposure set on the exposure dial).
I ruined a roll of film to load a 2nd in case it didn't like how the first was loaded. Yes, I am loading the film correctly.
I tried my 70mm leaf as well as my 80 1.9 with no luck.
I've tried normal and multi exposure modes.
I'm out of ideas, so just want to try to see if there's anything I'm missing before I return to the seller all the way from Ireland to the US!
Is there something about the leaf shutter lens that was attached when I opened the box that might have put things out of sync when I removed and put on the 80mm?
Randomly while testing the million things I was doing, it fired a couple of shots, but then with no change to anything, it failed to continue past those couple of frames.
Please help me... I'm hoping there's some life left in the old thing yet!
Thanks
Bren

 

[spijker]

As a last resort, I'd suggest to clean the electrical contacts on the back-camera connection, the winder-camera connection and you might as well do the same for the camera-prism connection. Just use a bit lens cleaning fluid. If that doesn't work either, send it back to the seller.

In multi-exposure, the shutter should fire without a film loaded but the dark slide has to be taken out. In "normal-exposure", a film must be present in the back to fire the shutter. At least that's how it works on my 645 Pro.

Good luck!

 

[Brenballs]

Thanks... I had tried cleaning all those contacts already, sorry should have also mentioned that in my above post. Also to rule that out bad connections I had also removed everything and tried to shoot in multi mode but nothing besides that tiny internal click sound I get every time about 1 second after I press the shutter.
Looks like a repair or a return I guess at this point.
Cheers,
Bren

 

[spijker]

Too bad. I'd sent it back and request a full refund. The 645 Pro & Pro TL show up fairly often on Ebay and the more reputable stores like KEH.

 

[MattKing]

It could be a problem with the safety interlocks.

Have you tried it with the film insert that works with your 645e?

 

[Brenballs]

It could be a problem with the safety interlocks.

Have you tried it with the film insert that works with your 645e?

You mean using the film back? Don't think it's interchangeable. The fact that it won't fire with everything stripped off should rule this out though.

 

[MattKing]

You mean using the film back? Don't think it's interchangeable. The fact that it won't fire with everything stripped off should rule this out though.

No, the film insert that you use in the 645e is the same insert that you use in the backs that fit on the 645 Pro/Super/Pro Tl.
As the safety interlocks interact with those inserts, it is always worthwhile to try the simple test of switching inserts to see if the problem arises from the particular insert you have in the back.