Canon ix4000 is printing red instead of black

[Christina Marriott]

At first blush, this sounds like either a failure of the cartridge(s) causing leaking of Magenta into the Black ink inlet port on the print head OR a print head failure causing a breach of the Black nozzle channels from adjacent ink channels. I suppose it could also be a failure of the logic board assay. Replacing an ink cartridge is easy and inexpensive. Replacing a print head or logic board assay may be quite expensive.

1) Do you refill? If so, do you use OEM Canon cartridges or aftermarket cartridges? What method of refilling do you use? If top fill, are all plugs secure so as to prevent ink leaking?

2) Do you notice and ink on or around the print head and/or cartridges? This may signal cartridge leaking. You may try taking the cartridges out of the print head and looking around with a flashlight (torch?). If you want, take the print head out of the printer and inspect the print head and the printer. If you rinse the print head with water then make sure the electronics are bone dry before placing back into the printer or else risk of shorting out the electronics and needing a new print head and/or logic board.

3) You say the Black seems fine but then you write that you never seem to use any Black ink. Have you tried a new Black cartridge to see if this is a flow problem? (My suspicion is this is not an ink starvation issue but a contamination of Magenta based on you post)

4) Please post an image of a nozzle check that displays the problem.

Hi Sratman ,
Thank you for the suggestions , I tried Lukasz 's idea about settings , and a new cart , must of been a dud cyan , not more exceiting than that . I must of been having a minor panic attact , at the idea of the printer not working . I live in rural Ireland , and my last printer break down I paid hundreds to have some tell me they couldn't fix it . It was an enormous Epson Pro that ended up in recyling .
Christina

 

[Christina Marriott]

Hi Christina,
It sounds like there’s a lot more going on in there that you can imagine, firstly you say your nozzle check is ok, but you also say that your text is not black either.

Can you post a nozzle check for us to examine and then we will be able to give you a much better idea on what’s going wrong on you, but please don’t print any more test prints or word documents till you can resolve this problem, only nozzle prints are acceptable at this time.

This is what your nozzle check print should look like..

View attachment 1454 click to enlarge.
Edit @stratman was a bit quicker than me at responding..

Hi
Thank you every body for your help , got it printing fine again this evening , and it even is using the black ink on plain paper setting , I tried that first
So at least I have learned one thing anyway .
What I should of done in the first place is try a new cart , never had a complete dud before , been printing for over 20 years and it was a first. I guess there must of been ink still in the system for the cyan to show up on the nozzle cheak.

Christina

 

[Christina Marriott]

Unfortunately, pigment ink used in PGI-5 cartridge is intended for plain paper like media and is not suitable for better matte photo papers.

It is an fix to allow photographic quality grayscale prints from partially clogged printhead. May be considered quite awkward.

Here's a hint
View attachment 1455
Ł.

Hi Lukasz
I will be more carefull in future to use the plain paper setting for text , I had just done a stock take of my ink and found nearly all of it was black , and looking back on orders I hadn't ordered any for over a year .
I was recomended the canon as an A3 printer as being more economical , than the epsons at the time and then got the Pro9000 mark11 , when I coulds as the back up as I prefer to be able to use the same carts . I couldn't beleive my eyes when I saw Epson carts had 5ml of ink in them .

Christina

 

[Christina Marriott]

What Lukasz suggests is bypassing using the PGI-5 Pigment Black cartridge and instead using the Dye-based CLI-8 colors to make black. A great workaround but not necessarily good if you need sharper text that is also waterproof, especially since you sell your printed work. The Dye-based inks will bleed more on your paper and, being water soluble, will streak if water gets on the printed material or a highlighter is used. If it works for you then OK.

Hi
Thanks for the tips , I had been being lazy when printing text and left the settings the same . Very wasteful of the ink though , sort of dawned on me that I had rather an over supply of black ink . I only use the matt photo for my prints.
I use the Pro 9000 for the watercolour prints with canon carts , and the ix4000 for the cards and general printing with compatibles . I used to refill with my Epsons and even a couple of CFS set up . I found it got difficult several years ago to get any one any more to fix printers even the more expensive ones .
I would be happy to know of reliable supplier of compatible ink carts for the
Pro 9000 if and when I need to use them. I live in rural Ireland and have to pay import duty on stuff from the US though .

best wishes
Christina

 

[stratman]

Happy to hear your printing issues have resolved!

I refill Canon OEM cartridges with Image Specialists ink. If you are looking to rejoin the world of refilling with your Canon printers, which are very simple to refill and reset the chips to function as if brand new, then take a look at forum member @websnail website Octoinkjet. He is a trusted source for your side of the pond's refilling needs and he, and the rest of us, will be glad to guide you along to refill nirvana. The link for ink and resetters for your printer is http://www.octoink.co.uk/categories/*-Canon-Printer-Products/iX-Series/Pixma-iX4000/. I also recommend the SquEasyFill bottles, syringes and caps for ease of use as found at http://www.octoink.co.uk/categories/Refill-Tools{47}Kits/. If you decide to Top Fill then silicone plugs are available on that page as well. Otherwise, The Durchstich German method requires no plugs. Directions on using these two refilling methods can be found as PDF files at the bottom of http://www.octoink.co.uk/kb/questions/103/SquEasyFill+Tips Either process is simple and is a matter of preference.

Since I live in the USA so I don't know an economical source for you in Ireland, though some of our European members on the forum may be able to help you out.

 

[The Hat]

Nice to have you back printing again and if you want to keep out of trouble then here is a thread to read that might help:- http://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/don’t-know-when-to-run-a-nozzle-print.9154/

Nearly all Canon users only use OEM cartridges for refilling and if you prefer to use compatible cartridges then they will work just fine so long as you remember not to try to refill them.

Now regardless of where your situated there is a very good ink supplier that I can recommend to you, for the replacement of OEM and compatible cartridges and their delivery charges are ridiculously low, visit their site and then make up your own mind. https://www.123ink.ie/

 

[Christina Marriott]

thanks for all your help
Christina

 

[Christina Marriott]

Nice to have you back printing again and if you want to keep out of trouble then here is a thread to read that might help:- http://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/don’t-know-when-to-run-a-nozzle-print.9154/

Nearly all Canon users only use OEM cartridges for refilling and if you prefer to use compatible cartridges then they will work just fine so long as you remember not to try to refill them.

Now regardless of where your situated there is a very good ink supplier that I can recommend to you, for the replacement of OEM and compatible cartridges and their delivery charges are ridiculously low, visit their site and then make up your own mind. https://www.inkmaestro.ie/

Hi The Hat ,
Great , there are so many out there it is good to get a reliable recomendation , I hadn't bought any new canon carts since last year , and had been lucky getting them at a good price . A full set for my old Epson printer of 7 ,110 ml carts used to cost me less than 200 euros , the set of 13ml for the Canon pro 9000 is over 120 euros Bad new even without the economic downturn .
Christina

 

[The Hat]

Hi Christina,

You probably won’t need a full set of carts for your 9000 because the red and green inks tend to be used up very slowly, which is a saving of €26 on the OEM's, this site is the best in the country.

You can always get a full set of the unchipped Digital Revolution carts for €40, which is a 60% saving, and chipped ones will only cost €4 more..
https://www.123ink.ie/