Blocked cyan on Pro9000 II printhead

[paulcroft]

Good morning

Last Thursday I started to print a large document; the first 5 pages were fine then the cyan appeared to stop printing without warning - no obvious streaks in advance. I noticed at about page 10 or 12. After 2 head cleans it started to work OK again but would stop printing again after 2 or 3 pages. After a one hour wait while I had my dinner it started to work fine once more and I finished the remaining pages - about another 80 or so.

The next day the cyan was very streaky and neither a normal head clean nor a deep clean resolved the issue so I removed the head, rinsed it in warm distilled water then let the nozzles soak overnight in warm distilled water with about 10% IPA added (we don't have Windex here in the UK - does anyone know of anything like it here?). In the morning I rinsed it again and put it in the airing cupboard to dry. In the afternoon I tried again and, after a streaky start, it eventually worked once more after a test print (poor), then a wait for a few minutes, then another test (better), then another wait for about 5 minutes, then another test (nearly OK), then another wait , then a fourth test - perfect. Five pages or so later more streaks again! Aarghh.

This morning it's been streaky, then OK, then streaky again.

Does this signify a defective head or is it simply a blockage which needs more than an overnight soak?

Paul

 

[mikling]

Have you tried another cartridge? The first symptoms point to a cartridge that might need to be flushed out and refilled again.

If the symptoms continue after a good cartridge has been tried, then the diagnosis would point to a printhead that is defective or very close to totally not working down the road. While not definitively head related, a circuit within the head most likely while being used can no longer take heat after being used a certain amount and must be allowed to rest and cool to function again.

Typically, you will get good nozzle checks but sustained use creates printing problems. When left to rest for a while, the printer restores itself only to exhibit the same problem again.

 

[Redbrickman]

Try Lidl W5 Window and Glass cleaner, blue in colour and comes in a large spray bottle.

Very effective, and used by some of the veteran refillers who live on this side of the big pond

 

[paulcroft]

@ Mikling
Yes, change of cartridge has been tried to no avail. Funnily enough, that reminds me that I first noticed the problem when I changed the cartridge. It was empty, I swapped it out for a refilled one and when the problem appeared I refilled the empty one, replaced it and carried on but the streaking continued. I've since swapped the cartridges around again with no success. Both cartridges are OEMs.

@ Redbrickman
Thanks, I'll pop into Lidl and give it a try.

Paul

 

[turbguy]

Can you post a service test print?

Wayne

 

[The Hat]

@ Mikling
Yes, change of cartridge has been tried to no avail. Funnily enough, that reminds me that I first noticed the problem when I changed the cartridge. It was empty, I swapped it out for a refilled one and when the problem appeared I refilled the empty one, replaced it and carried on but the streaking continued. I've since swapped the cartridges around again with no success. Both cartridges are OEMs.

@ Redbrickman
Thanks, I'll pop into Lidl and give it a try.

Paul

mikling The first symptoms point to a cartridge that might need to be flushed out and refilled again.

I think mikling may be on to something, try cleaning out your cyan cartridges, dry and refill.
Dont print any more test pages till you get at least two satisfactory nozzle checks..

 

[paulcroft]

@Wayne
Yes, I could, except that the head's in soak right now, in Lidl's W5 window cleaner. Smells nice! I'll post a nozzle check afterwards if there's no joy. Mind you, my scanner's playing up right now so I'll have to photograph the printout and tweak the levels in Photoshop to show the result clearly because my nozzle checks are always very faint. I've always taken this to be normal, they've never been anywhere near as dark as shown in the software example but photos have always come out fine.

@ The Hat
I'll try cleaning the cartridges if the soak doesn't work. I'm not optimistic though, I think it's unlikely two would clog up at the same time - and the ink flows fine from both if I try wicking the outlets with tissue.

Paul

 

[rodbam]

My nozzle checks look a bit feint too so I think that's normal Paul.

 

[paulcroft]

Good afternoon

What a beautiful day - the sun's shining, the birds are singing, crocii are starting to appear in my front garden, and, up there near or at the top of the list: the printer is printing flawlessly once more.

An overnight soak in Lidl W5 window and glass cleaner (sitting the nozzles on well soaked kitchen tissue and filling the wells around and over the tops of the feed tubes) then a good rinse with distilled water and a dry off in the airing cupboard seems to have solved the problem. I've just printed off about 20 pages of A4 and a couple of A4 photos and everything's back to gorgeous results.

Score 1 for Lidl's glass cleaner, and I'm off to buy another bottle before they change the formula.

Paul