Black ink bleeding into color tanks

[lawsim]

Hi, I have a Canon i865 printer, and have been using non-generic cartridges (MMC - ink made in USA, rest made in China). Last week I noticed that the black ink was bleeding into the yellow cartridge (replaced yellow tank), and now the black ink has bled into all 3 color tanks. I had been searching the web for an answer, and Google led me here. I have picked up part of a thread to this particular problem on this forum, but I have been unable to track down the original post, or replies to it. I have contacted Canon (Australia), but am yet to receive call from tech. I am assuming that it is the non-generic cartridges that I am using, or is it something else?, can somebody throw some light on this problem....
Thanks in advance, Barry.

 

[drc023]

More than likely the black tank has an improper seal which is allowing it to leak excessive amounts into the sponge on the parking station which is then being wicked back into the other tanks. Another possibility is the presence of a bit of debris on the parking station which is causing the ink to wick from the black tank.

 

[hpnetserver]

Replace the black with a new one. This will prove if it is reposible for the contamination. Do a few cleaning cycles to suck out the black ink in the contaminated color cartridges before it is too late. If you wait too long the black ink will completely merge with the color inks then it may be too late to save them.

 

[Grandad35]

See: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=347

 

[lawsim]

I removed cover of printer to gain access to the parking pad. Removed a piece of plastic that had a wiper on it, it was soaked in black ink, cleaned and replaced it. Also checked the print head, and after re-assembly, the printer would not turn on. I had to remove the print head, turn the printer on, then replace the print head and all was ok. Went to turn the printer on this morning, same problem. Does this indicate a faulty print head?, or is there a way to reset something?

 

[hpnetserver]

You may have damaged the printer. There are a number of cable connections behind the printhead parking lot. There is also the key pad wiring in the fornt of it. Take a look and see if anything around the parking lot is knocked out of connection. Chance should be good that the printer is not really damaged.

 

[lawsim]

I spoke to a Canon tech. and he suggested that the purge unit could be faulty, or the "blotter pads" could be full. I thought I had an extended warrenty on the printer, but I didn't, so pulled it apart myself. All the pads were absolutely full of black ink, so cleaned them, and put them back (waiting on phone call for cost of replacement pads), and will keep a close check to see if the black ink contaminates the other cartridges.

 

[fotofreek]

Lawsim - A printer tech in NZ posted that you can use some carpet padding to replace the waste ink pads. I haven't tried it yet, but there is some padding that looks similar to the ink pads. He also mentioned that you might try to find carpet padding designed for boats that resists molds. I did see a post last year from someone who had purchased the pads from a local printer repair firm in San Francisco. I called him and he now combines the pad (worth a few dollars at most) with an instruction CD and charges a considerable amount for it. The repairmen aren't anxious to sell you the pads as they use them to service printers and charge their fee for the servicing.

 

[hpnetserver]

If you have washed off the black waste ink from the pad it should be as good as a new one except it is free. Havn't you thought of reusing it? You may want to dry it as much as possible before you put your "new" pad back. Is it
the big one (actually two or three layers) at the bottom? I think there is a smaller one near the parking lot of the printhead. You can leave that smaller one alone.

Oh, I don't understand why a full waste ink tank would prevent you from turning on the printer.

 

[fotofreek]

HP - I was told by a tech that cleaning the pad still leaves it with some ink residue that makes it less absorbent. You need the pad to absorb the ink so you don't have liquid sloshing around the base of your printer. From what I've read, you get the warning code but you can still print for a while. Keep printing and the printer stops functioning and you then can not do the reset. (what I've read, and not from my own experience!) When you do the reset codes the internal counter that estimates the waste ink from counting cleaning cycles and overspray from borderless prints starts over again. Of course, the printer "thinks" that you were a tech and that you replaced the pad before doing the reset. Ink in the pad doesn't stop you from printing - the counter that estimates the amount of waste ink does. I'm sure that washing the pad is better than not washing it, but I understand that it is a real mess to do! I would just do the reset once without worrying about the amount of ink as I've read that you can get away with one reset.