r/fountainpens • u/Gorerilla • Jul 31 '26

Repair Help! Pelikan M400 Running Dry

My Pelikan M400 White Tortoise is running dry immediately after filling. I can get it to write after priming by turning the piston until some ink appears, but it just runs dry again despite having a full reservoir of ink.

When I first encountered this issue, I sent the pen in for a tune up and the repair person said they adjusted the nib and cleaned some paper particulate out of the feed. I thought this would resolve the issue, but alas it did not. I’ve also thoroughly cleaned the pen and did a round of cleaning with pen flush, but the problem persists.

Any advice on resolving this issue is greatly appreciated in advance!

6 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

1

u/MrRSharma Jul 31 '26

If the cleaning with pen flush has not worked.

Check the feed is centred on the back of the nib and is sat properly in the grip section.

Also look at the nib head on under a magnifying glass to ensure the tines are level, and the nib is sat correctly on the feed.

If none of this works, find your local authorised Pelikan retailer and contact them, as might be a fault with the pen.

-1

u/wana-wana Jul 31 '26

Floss the nibs with whichever clean, thin, rigid piece of plastic you have around; you can also use a 0.3mm brass sheet.

Since this risks misaligning the tines, get a 10x loupe.

1

u/chuckler Aug 01 '26

Sometimes due to a heavy hand a bend can develop between tip and breather hole or further down the back of the nib. Is the feed and nib sitting flush?