Fellow enthusiasts,

I bought a new Pelikan Level 5 with, medium nib, through Regina Martini. At first the pen wrote like a good Cross pen: wet and juicy. However, after three fillings the flow became reduced. Finally, ink retracted up the nib toward the feed and stayed there.

I am having difficulty restoring flow, and hope someone can be of assistance. Below are details of attempted repair.

I began to wonder if there was oil in the filler mechanism or feed. So I decided to attempt disassembly and rinse.

- Examined nib with 30x loupe. Tines evenly aligned. Slit on center. Tipping nice and even all around.
- Could see light between tines. [It wasn't like this at first....]
- Used match stick ends, rounded, to depress the grey / black tabs near the filler knob.
- Removed filler knob. Drained barrel of Pelikan ink.
- Using a rubber band around the ink bottle cap and gentle plier action, the ink bottle top was removed. Not difficult.
- Filled bottle w/ soapy water. Replaced cap.
- Filled pen with soapy water.
- Reinserted filler knob to activate reservoir separator.
- Bled tanks out through nib, onto paper towel.

- Removed filler knob ... shaft came with it! Rinsed barrel with clean water. Small drops. Then big drops. Then filled barrel and blew - - heavy stream. Good.
- Also rinsed filler bottle.
- Oops. Large, thin o-ring came out of barrel. Where’d it come from?
- Tried to run it down the barrel w/ eraser end of pen. Too big; didn’t fit neatly.
- Found two rings in end of barrel, inner. Placed o-ring there; inserted filler knob. Fits.
- Filled ink bottle w/ Noodler’s Eel, American Blue.
- Filled pen halfway. Turned filler knob, ink dropped into small reservoir.
- Bled nib onto paper towel. Ink comes out.
- When ink flow turned blue, experimented writing on paper.
- Flow is still thin and stingy. :-(

When the pen began losing its generous flow after the second / third filling, I gently tapped the nib on paper to drop ink down. I wonder if I forced the nib & feed further into the section....

Next attempt: removing the nib and feed for inspection. Can anyone advise on how this nib and feed are removed? I believe they are push-fit.

Any advice appreciated.

I have no fix, maybe just a few points.

There is at least one good topic with pictures and diagrams from disassembling a Level 65.

You mentioned that the shaft out with the knob the second time? Why didn't that happen the first time? You can see that the knob pushes and pulls on the shaft, so what was it doing before and what held it in the barrel? All the moving parts should come out together.

The thin O-ring goes about half an inch in the barrel. I think there's a little ledge inside there. I'm looking at mine, not taken apart, and I think there's a groove in the mechanism for it too.

The two chunky little O-rings belong on the shaft, towards the feed end. Is it two? In the normal writing position, they seal the wall between the chambers.

Don't lose the little plug on the end either.

For now playing with it now, if you aren't worried about blotting from expanding air, or shutting off the feed in an airplane, you could pull the shaft out of the knob and leave it aside. You could put a little ink in the barrel, which would run out through the nib until the knob is put back to seal that end.

The slits on mine show light and the tips touch.

I don't get it, so I look forward to reading about it working again.

Kernando, thanks for your reply.

Everything is as you said: rear o-ring near the rear, small o-ring near the front, and cream-colored stopper on the end of the shaft. They all sit neatly in place.

Your note about the nib was helpful: I too see a little daylight between the tines, narrowing until they touch at the tip. That's OK.

I removed the valve shaft and tried writing. The pen still wrote very dry ... and frequent heavy drops blotted the page. This won't work.

When I reinstall the shaft, I'll press it a little tighter into the filler knob. You're right: the first time I disassembled, the shaft came out with the filler knob.

I'm going to review Da Book and think .... I'm wondering whether there is enough space between the feed and underside of the nib. A bookmark slips between them, but it's tight. Perhaps a tad more clearance would help air enter the pen and ink flow out. Question: How to get more clearance with a plastic feed? They're generally rather inflexible.

??