Canon EFS 17-85mm IS stuck/locked zoom repair/disassembly

It seems like this is a common problem with these lenses, the zoom gets stuck at 17mm with about 2mm of play (zoom movement). This problem is all due to a loose single screw on the inner lens assembly, sounds simple to fix, doesn’t it?

The challenge is trying to get to this single screw, which involves the separation of the lens into over 10 components, and the removal of about 20 small screws. Hopefully this guide will make the disassembly job a whole lot easier.

First, a reminder of what the lens looks like.

Turn the lens on its side with the connection contacts closest to you. There are 2 tiny Philips screws to remove.

Balance the lens on its front with the metal lens screw lock ring visible. There are 4 small Philips screws to remove.

The metal ring can now be hinged apart. This next step is the most difficult. The inner black plastic ring is connected to the metal outer ring with 4 plastic clips in the inside. By pushing the clips towards the center, the black plastic ring can be removed from the top of the metal outer ring. Much care is needed due to the ribbon cable still being attached to the connection contacts allowing for a gap of roughly no more than 1cm.

Once the inner black plastic ring is removed, the outer metal screw lock ring can be removed, exposing the PCB protected by a black plastic housing.

Disconnect a single pressure ribbon cable attached to the inside of the black plastic housing which will then allow for its removal exposing the PCB.

Disconnect the 5 ribbon cables from the PCB. 2 are pressure connected, 2 with a hinged clip and 1 with a pressure clip. Unscrew a single Philips screw allowing the removal of the PCB.

Remove the 5 screws (circled in red) holding the outer black plastic ring allowing the remove of the black plastic ring. Then remove the 3 inner screws (circled in blue).

Turn the lens over and remove the rubber zoom grip. It can be removed by inserting a very thin screw driver under the rubber and working your way around.

With the rubber zoom grip removed, rotate the lens until you find a black rectangle sticker, peal this off to expose some contactors.

With a Philip driver, unscrew the contactors. I actually performed this when reassembling the lens and slightly damaged them. It is better to remove them at the start to prevent this.

There are 3 screws sitting on small metal tubes between a groove, finally remove these.

With these removed the inner lens portion can now be removed from the outer casing.

You now have access to the problem screw(s) that need tightening. Once tightened, add some Loctite or nail-polish to stop the screws becoming loose again.

Some do’s and don’ts

don’t remove the front lens sticker or 3 screws behind it.
don’t remove the zoom sticker with m/ft increments.
don’t touch or disassemble any of the focusing ring!
do keep your UV filter on the lens, you can still remove the rubber grip with it on.
do make sure the focusing pin between the inner and outer len is in place.

References

FixYa post by Gert Jan [fixa.com]
Canon EF 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 USM Lens Repair [photo.net]

Tags: Canon, disassembly, EFS 17-85mm, lockded, Repair, stuck, zoom

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 8:12 am and is filed under Repair. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Seb

Dear Thydzik!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Your fantastic tutorial helped me save a lot of money. Moreover, for the first time in my life I encouraged myself to do disassembly and reassembly of something which seemed to me too complicated. I thought only pros could do that. You helped me and lots and lots of other people to do it on our own. Thank you for showing how!

PS I would also like to thank ITS Magic, who’s post I’ve found very helpful.
Farmer-phill

Hi Thydzik,

Thanks, brilliant tutorial!
Embarked on this repair when my lens showed signs of sticking at various points of zoom and found the problem screws all tight, after a lot of studying found the corner of the zoom sticker with m/ft increments on it had curled up a little so carefully trimmed it back and reassembled the lens which now seems to function perfectly. It would thus appear that this is enough to cause the focus ring to stick and could cause the same symptoms as the loose screws.
http://www.jonluigi.com Jon Luigi

Thank you very much for this guide. it really helps…
Shaneo

Fantastic article, my lens is working fine once again. Got tripped up at the end with the focusing pin – should have read through ALL the posts at the start! Thanks
RStrauss

Thank you so much. Fixed it in 1 hour 9 minutes more or less, with no issues. Perfect instructions. The thing works smooth as could be now!

I didn’t find that I needed to remove the outer casing: I could reach right in, grab the screw, put lock-tite on it, and screwed it in nice and tight. It really was extraordinarily loose; way to go Canon…

A little bit more detail about the ribbon cables (for those that aren’t familiar; I had to ask a buddy) would be helpful.

Thanks so much again. I couldn’t have done this without you and I’m sure they charge an arm and a leg, plus the time without the lens…
suzy

hey I just finished fixing my lens and it now doesnt focus. I have the pin lined up (i think, well i have the line lined up to the line on the zoom so im hoping thats right) can you please help? is it the contactor are they not connected properly? your help would be greatly appreciated.
http://deviantpixels.com Deviant Pixel

Thank you. I normally read helpful posts and don’t comment but I had to extend my thanks to you for this post. I actually took the lens apart before and couldn’t figure out what was causing the zoom to get stuck. I am sitting here at this table with a reassembled lens and a perfectly working zoom now. You saved me money, time, and frustration. I thank you again (:
Cathcort

I truly appreciate the time you took to carefully post these instructions.

Any tips on removing the screws in step 2? they see especially difficult to loosen.
Cathcort

…never mind… I got a better screwdriver and the four screws came out easily. Now on to the harder parts…

Thanks again.
http://www.OneLightStudio.net jwalter

Carefully, patiently, successfully I did the repair today, and wanted to share some feedback for others looking to perform it.

> The direction that says, “Remove the 5 screws (circled in red)” ONLY FOUR of the screws are ID’d with a RED circle. One RED ID is missing from the photo.
To the best of my memory, the BLUE screw almost at 6 o’clock is actually the fifth RED, and the one to the right of that (not circled) is actually the third BLUE screw.

> It would be better if the DO NOT’s were at the TOP of the instructions rather than at the end esp. the one about not touching the FOCUS ring. READ the DO NOT’s before you get started. — I did, but there is also no warning that just as you turn the lens over in the next step (Turn the lens over and remove the rubber zoom grip. ) the FOCUS RING may just freely drop right off (mine did) and Hey–ooops; you’re not suppose to play with it when trying figure the right place or how to properly realign it.

> The last instruction (You now have access to the problem screw(s) that need tightening.) should have pointers, or a call out to tell you the other screws you may have to tighten are the same as the single one circled in red; also how tight to make them.
I may have tightened the three offending screws a little too much, because once I did the reassembly, the zoom works fine, but has a little of a hollow aluminum pipe sound when zoomed and seems a little stiff.

Also a good idea to do the repair and dis-assembly on a white bath towel ( or something like that) where you can keep the parts lines up in the order you remove them AND b/c it will help prevent loss of the asst’d tiny screws. — Make sure you have a good pair of tweezers!

All that said, motto thanks to the author for the information offered and services rendered. — All the best.

# # #
http://www.OneLightStudio.net jwalter

Carefully, patiently, successfully I did the repair today, and wanted to share some feedback for others looking to perform it.

> The direction that says, “Remove the 5 screws (circled in red)” ONLY FOUR of the screws are ID’d with a RED circle. One RED ID is missing from the photo.
To the best of my memory, the BLUE screw almost at 6 o’clock is actually the fifth RED, and the one to the right of that (not circled) is actually the third BLUE screw.

> It would be better if the DO NOT’s were at the TOP of the instructions rather than at the end esp. the one about not touching the FOCUS ring. READ the DO NOT’s before you get started. — I did, but there is also no warning that just as you turn the lens over in the next step (Turn the lens over and remove the rubber zoom grip. ) the FOCUS RING may just freely drop right off (mine did) and Hey–ooops; you’re not suppose to play with it when trying figure the right place or how to properly realign it.

> The last instruction (You now have access to the problem screw(s) that need tightening.) should have pointers, or a call out to tell you the other screws you may have to tighten are the same as the single one circled in red; also how tight to make them.
I may have tightened the three offending screws a little too much, because once I did the reassembly, the zoom works fine, but has a little of a hollow aluminum pipe sound when zoomed and seems a little stiff.

Also a good idea to do the repair and dis-assembly on a white bath towel ( or something like that) where you can keep the parts lined up in the order you remove them AND b/c it will help prevent loss of the asst’d tiny screws.
– Make sure you have a good pair of tweezers!

All that said, motto thanks to the author for the information offered and services rendered. — All the best.

# # #
peterparker

THANK YOU soo much! finally have my baby back in working condition. your instructions were vital!!
http://parfaitphotography.com sedu

Man! Thanks a lot u jst saved me lot of money….the focusing pin is important thou
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PetrS

Thanks a zillion, really. This tutorial saved me a lot of money, my lens are back and fully operational. THANK YOU! :)
Michael C.

Very good how-to for fixing this issue. I really had more trouble putting it back together than taking it apart.

The only issue I have now is that I seem to have done something to make the image jitter when auto-focusing. It does not affect the clarity of the image from what I can tell, just that it shifts up or down when pressing the shutter to bring it into focus.
Erik

Thank you!!!
Thanks to your very nice tutorial, i was able to disassemble my lens, fix a few cracks that happened due to an accident, and now it works again :-D
James Holtzman

My zoom quit working, locked up, felt a part shaking around inside, took the rubber zoom ring off, the stamping fell out. Whatever it is, prevented the lens from going in and out when the zoom ring was turned. Took the lens apart with your istructions, found where the part went but the screws are actually missing! I don’t know how the lens worked, I bought it used from B&H little over a year ago, no tell-tale marks where the screw heads would have been, wondering if the part was cemented in perhaps? Screws to eyeglasses were too small, otherwise I’d have fixed the thing. I put it back together without the part, will have some manual zoom control by pulling out or pushing in on the lens until I can get it repaired, I’m out of the country now. Didn’t fix my problem but I know what to do next, thanks everyone.

Jim
Elio

Thank you very very much! Thank you for showing photo and instructions. You have been great! Your tutorial helped me. My lens now seems to function perfectly. Thanks again!
http://www.gombel.ac.id maz tresna

thank you for your guiding, it works for me. i dont need spend any money to repair it, just follow your direction step by step quiet perfectly..god bless you..wish you all the best..amiiin..
James Holtzman

With epoxy and superglue handy, I took the lens apart again (thanks for the steps) and a screw fell out, still one screw unaccountable for. I put the part in place with one screw and a tiny drop of superglue under the part. Back together, works fine with the exception of two minor problem, focusing is jittery, like somebody else described, and once in a while I get a message from the camera saying it cannot communicate with the lens, clean the contacts or something. Less than perfect, I was able to finish the trip and take photos.

When I got home, sent the lens to Canon, they are charging about $190 US including shipping. They commented that “I tampered” with the lens, duh! I had no choice, I would have had NO lens at all. Hopefully they will bring the lens back to factory specs.

Thanks again – Jim
Rita

Hi

Can anyone help me with the pressure connected ribbon cables- I’m not sure how to release them. I have managed the others. It’s the widest one I’m not sure how to remove.

Thank you
Ole Lund Andersen

Same prob as Rita – with the pressure connected ribbon cables – don’t know how to release them.
(unfortunately broke a double-cable attached to the Auto focus and the Stabilizer button because I couldn’t see any other solution to getting the black plastic housing off…damn!)
Ole Lund Andersen

Think I located the pressure ribbon cable at eight o’clock in picture five – disconnecting it didnt release the plastic housing though – what am I doing wrong?
Ole Lund Andersen

OK managed to get it of – you need to push with something pointed on the blocks where the screwholes are while pressing the plastic housing upwards
Rita

Hi Ole
I broke one of the ribbon cables too- what a nightmare. Still haven’t managed to get the pressure connected ribbon cables of at 3 and 11 o’clock. Have you had any luck with those?
Don’t know what I’m going to do even if I do get it apart, now that the ribbon cables broken. But I won’t let it beat me!!
I look at it every so often hoping for inspiration! Nothings happening!
vijay dhole

i have a problem on my canon 17-85mm lanse,comminication between camera and lanse is not connect……….plzzzzzzzz give me fast reply……thank u
Bart

Thanks a million for this guide. I knew the minute I read it that it would fix my problem. And it did!
I would recommend anyone trying to fix the same problem to read the entire article first, including all the comments. There are quite a few helpful tips in the comments as well.
Adrian

Thanks for this, sadly due to the tightness of the 4 screws (Step 2) I’ve managed to partially strip the head of one of the screws – think I’ll have to bail on the repair and get a pro to doit before I destroy the head of the scew totally!

Thanks very much for the step-by-step guide, really great that you shared this.

Cheers!
http://knirkle.blogspot.com Wayne Lawton

Many thanks for this guide. Worked like a charm. Lens is back up and unlocked!
rita rosso

“Disconnect the 5 ribbon cables from the PCB. 2 are pressure connected, 2 with a hinged clip and 1 with a pressure clip. Unscrew a single Philips screw allowing the removal of the PCB.”
Please can anyone explain how to disconnect the 2 “pressure connected” ribbons as mentioned in the above paragraph.
I can’t work out how it’s done

Thank you
Ole

Hi Rita
Sorry been away for a while.
The ribbon cable at 11 can be removed either by holding something pointed behind the two white tabs sticking out on each side behind the connection and gently pulling it away from the connection or with a tiny pointed electrician pliers/tweezer hold round the white area and gently pull it back. The cable at 3 is a bit tighter, I used a small water pump plier! adjusting the size of the plier to the broad side of the cable and got it loose by gently grabbing round the sides and pulling it away from the connection, I think it’s also possible to grab it gently with a pointed electrician pliers and pull a little in one side then pull a little in the other and it will gradually disconnect – be carefull when you reassemble the metal outer ring and the plastic inner ring with the clips they easely break. I managed to break two, I put them back on with a very strong instant glue and with an old soldering iron I melted some plastic on the back side of the two clips and got them working again (it’s a bit tricky to do this). Travis writes “By pushing the clips towards the center..” I would with all respect for the great work he has done correct it to – very gently press the top of the clips back and release them from the outer metal ring.
I broke the cable connecting the Auto Focus and Image stabilizer because I disassembled the AF IS contact on the side of the lens – don’t do this it’s not necessary!! – I tried to assemble the cable by gluing the ends to a little flat peace of stiff plastic and stripping the ends of the cable so the cobber was exposed and connecting them with electrically conductive glue specially made for reestablishing print circuits. When I finally got the lens assembled it worked!, but I’m still not sure whether the Image Stabilizer works. I found this web site with spare parts: http://www.cameraspareparts.co.uk/camera-spare-parts-4-w.asp
and I will later contact them to see if they have the parts that was broken (I like the lens to be all in one peace)
TO RITA ROSSO
Release of pressure clips of the cables at 4 and 5 o’clock
The brown area on the connection right above where the cable goes in are hinges they can be relased by gently pressing upwards with a pointed tool on each side of the cable or gently placing a hobby knife blade between the white cable end and the hinge and gently press upwards.
If any of you get contact with someone selling spare parts, please let me know – I will let you know if I succeed getting the parts.
BiperX

Hi guys,

Just to say I have finished assembly of the lens after it got stuck at 17mm. I think I performed all steps correctly, as the zoom works as a charm, but now the focus desn’t work either in manual or auto mode. Not sure why this happened as I had the focusing ring on the same position (infinity) permanently attached by using sticky tape around it.
Can anyone help, please? Thanks a lot
Nige

Yep I have exactly the same problem. I was careful to ensure that all parts went back in same position, (in my case 17mm) but no focasing in manual or auto. In auto I can hear it hunting but unable to focus in. Shame because I fixed the zoom problem quite easily except for damaging a couple of lugs on the plastic ring as warned about. Help
Nige

I have been able to correct the focusing issue on my lens without stripping down anything other than the rubber zoom grip.
Remove the grip, turn the zoom to 17mm and the focus ring to macro. In the window above the EFS 17-85mm writing you should see two metal strips. in my case the lug that should have sat between these was to the right of them. With tweezers and a jewelers screwdriver I was able to gently work the lug under the first metal strip so that it sat between the two. Everything sorted and a huge bill avoided. Thanks so much for a great blog.
Bogdan

You just saved me 70 Euros. Thank you very much for this tutorial, it was really helpful!
BiperX

You were absolutely right Nige! It was the problem you described – the black plastic should fit into the “fork” shaped metal inside the lens, which I belive is an extension coming from focusing motor. I have done it tonight hoping it will sort out the problem, but I had less lucky than you.
In my case manual focus now works OK (so it’s definately better than it was before) but when switched to auto, camera focuses then starts traveling backwards and forwards as if it could not stay in same focal point. Also the sound from autofocusing system is diifferent and more noisy to the one I remember…
Any suggestions much appreciated, thanks!
Nigel

Thank you saved time and money
BiperX

Following my genius attempt to “repair” the lens now I have Err 01 msg when taking pictures with zoom bigger than 17mm. Perhaps that was the reason why I had problem with autofocusing? I’ve read about this error a little and it turns out as one of the connector bus controlling aperture is broken, so I already ordered a new one from eBay.
Quite frankly I am giving up hope with this lens and start thinking about another one from Canon’s competition. It’s rather disappointing that after only 3years of rather gentle use (20k shots) the lens is just dying and I am not the only one to admit that, so what do you guys think?

Regards and good luck to everyone.
JT

Great instructions. My lens is no longer jammed…however, like “suzy” (copy/pasted below), my lens doesn’t focus. Can you help me figure this out? THanks a bunch.

suzy says:
March 19, 2011 at 10:49 pm
hey I just finished fixing my lens and it now doesnt focus. I have the pin lined up (i think, well i have the line lined up to the line on the zoom so im hoping thats right) can you please help? is it the contactor are they not connected properly? your help would be greatly appreciated.
Michael Lee

Wow! Great! Thanks so much!!! I already replaced my lense several years ago; and today, with time on my hands, I thought I’d open it up and see if I could figure out what was wrong (zoom stuck on 17mm). Once I started, I thought to try a web search for help, and found this. Could NOT have done it without your help!

I was mad that a Canon lense stopped working like that…I’ve been in photography for around 45 years and know how to treat good equipment! For those above who were thinking of a new lense, I have my second Tamron. It’s 18-270mm and I REALLY like that extra length compared to the Canon 17-85mm. Is the optical quality different than a Canon? I have done formal protraiture with it and can’t tell a practical difference.

By the way, my fixed Canon zooms smoother now and with better control than it did brand new! Again, Travis, THANKS!

(Note for anyone reading here and still thinking about trying this — it is not for the faint of heart, and easy enough to damage something. But it’s very possible. You need mechanical savy–recommend experience with tiny mechanical and electrial– good tools, and steady hands. Putting back together can be harder than taking apart if you don’t carefully lay things out in order. Study each section carefully before taking the next piece off in order to assist memory in reassembling. At worst, you end up paying someone to fix it, but you’d have done that anyway if not trying to do it yourself!)
http://www.arndt-last.de Arndt Last

Hello,

thanks for the helpfull instruction to repair the blocked Canon zoom objective! I followed it and transfered it to German for those who might find German more easy to follow. Some aditional pictures were added and another defect repaired. If you like, you might link Germans to:
http://www.arndt-last.de > Technisches > Reparaturanleitungen
I tried to put the direkt link in here, but then an errors “Illegal characters in POST. Possible email injection attempt” occurs!

Thanks again, Arndt Last

Edit by thydzik: redirecting link here
http://thydzik.com/arndt-last-canon-zoomobjektiv-efs-17-85-mm-mechanisch-blockiert.php
kaufi

Hi !
Thanks for the great documantation !!
No the objective works fine !
Be careful at the reassembling !!
Reg Kaufi
abz2002

First off, thank you to original author, sorted the zoom out after some battling with keeping the inside of the lens clean as the zoom sleeve feel out.

AF stopped working and thanks to Nige for an easy fix, I would have dredded taking it all apart once again.

Must admit took me best part of 3 hours but well worth it!

Broke one of the black clips as others have referred to =, did nothing about this as two seem adequate, not going to lose sleep over that.

Also, the large ribbon has a black clip which came away from its lugs either side but I still manage to slip it back in to hold the ribbon tight with any repair or modification.
Martin

I also did the procedure. Thank you very much for the guide. Now everything works fine, EXEPT:
I can’t focus to infinity anymore. Focus works fine and also the black pin is in the right position, but the focuspoint have moved a little bit foreward. i have a greater macro focus but also as mentioned no focus to infinity.

Can anybody help?
marjo

I have the same problem as BiperX. THe Manual focus does work, de AF doesn’t. Someone already find the problem? I don’t know what to do…
http://www.marcuswagner.de Marcus Wagner

I really appreciate what some people in the net are doing to help others – i did not dissasemble it yet, but was so happy to find this blog after my 17-85 locked itself yesterday.

thank you!
Hänsel von der Gretel

Thanks a lot for this great tutorial… worked all fine.. I broke two plastic clips but this seems to be no problem….
dbs

A Great tutorial, for which I must thank you, BUT while taking mine apart, a piece of metal has fallen out that is not in your description. it’s a kind of a ‘forked’ piece coming of an off set curved piece (that has 2 holes in the curved piece) any idea where this bit may have came from ?? I know it’s a long shot but worth asking….

THANKS
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Canon EFS 17-85mm IS stuck/locked zoom repair/disassembly

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