Nikon F3 Frame Counter Broken?

Hello everyone. I recently acquired a fairly nice condition Nikon F3 off of Ebay. I just finished putting my first roll through it and when I went to change my rolls I noticed that the frame counter had not reset. I have done a bit of research on what the problem might be but I have not found any satisfactory answers. The counter is stuck between the 10 and 5, if I close the back and continue shooting that counter goes up but the lowest it will go is about 7. I'd be happy to supply any more information on it and i'd appreciate any help. Thanks

The frame counter on mechanical Nikons is returned by a weak spiral spring -similar to a clock spring- that gets tensioned as the film is wound on. The frame numbers are printed on the perimeter of a thin aluminium disc that rotates almost 360 degrees during a full film winding. Therefore anything rubbing on the disc, a bend in the disc or a weakening of the spring could cause this problem.

 

It's probably due to dirt or stiff lube accumulating in the frame indicator mechanism. IIRC the frame-counter wheel is released to reset by opening the back. There's a small lever set into the recess of the back light trap, with a corresponding "pusher" protruding from the back. Taking pressure off the lever should cause it to pop out and reset the counter. Maybe working that little lever with a biro point or similar will sort the problem.

 

If not then the leverwind, shutter release and speed selector all need to be removed in order to lift the top-plate and gain access to the frame counter.

 

I'd just wind the frame counter to 36 and spring the back open a few times. If that doesn't improve or clear it then it's repair time, which might be more expensive than the camera's worth.