Olympus 35 SP troubles with frozen aperture ring.

Just got this camera and all was going well and then the aperture ring started getting quite stiff and difficult to turn. Now it's frozen. All other controls and functions are fine. I was in the process of shooting my first roll with it and now looking at a relatively expensive trip to the repair shop. Any with instructions or suggestions of how to fix this?

BTW...my first post. Hope to make a lot more as I progress with my recently acquired Canon P with a 50 1.4.

If you can return the item, return the item and get a refund. If not ... I guess the shutter/aperture assembly needs a good cleaning because the item is old and bound to have issues. It's not difficult to disassemble and put it back, but unless you have similar experience, I would not recommend it.