RIP Canon Elan II

Farewell, dearest Elan II. You served me for twelve wonderful months and we became very close friends. You let me regain my trust in Canon EF lenses, automatically loaded my films for me and let me fire as many exposures on the same frame as I damn-well pleased. 

Unfortunately, those days are now over. 

The Canon Elan II was my daily shooter for quite a while in the last twelve months. 

Not just a dead battery

So there I was, 5 frames into the last FP4Party of the year, on a cold winter day in Saskatchewan. I raised the viewfinder to my eye, composed the shot and fired the shutter only to find it stop short while flashing the low battery indicator on the LCD. "It's just a little cold.", I said as I packed it in for the day. After getting a replacement 2CR5, I was really confused when I powered the Elan back on only to find the same thing was still happening, despite the fresh battery. 

Hmmm

I researched everything I could to help diagnose the problem. I tried both third-party (Sigma and Tokina) and OEM lenses without success. I confirmed the battery was not the problem by using it in the Elan IIe. 

Everything appeared to be operating perfectly, until I hit the shutter. The camera flashed the battery indicator until the shutter release was pressed again, then it just reverted back to its original state. My amateur diagnosis (a wild guess, really) was the shutter mechanism might be shot.

Cause of death: Unknown

After coming up empty in my online search for proper treatment for the old girl, my hope is someone will be able to tell me what is happening. Even if this is the end for my beloved go-to 35mm camera, it would be nice to know and I can provide a proper burial or perhaps even cremation ceremony. 

Any expert diagnostic opinions and/or wild speculations are gladly welcomed.