canon pixma ip4200 print head clogged

[kevindd992002]

Ah. So when is the only time you need to purge an ink cartridge? I have old empty OEM ink cartridges here for Yellow, Magenta, Cyan, and Black. The old PG Black has still ink in it.

Ok, got it.

Now I don't have Ammonia here, lol. I thought 95% pure alcohol (IPA) would do the job, I guess not.

 

[Smile]

You can get ammonia in you local pharmacy.

 

[kevindd992002]

Thanks.

When is the only time you need to purge an ink cartridge?

 

[fotofreek]

Kevin - Where are you located? If you are in the US just buy a small bottle of original Windex with ammonia. As to the question of when to purge an ink cart - there are a few circumstances that call for purging. If someone gives you an OEM cart that was used, emptied, and left sitting around you should definitely purge and dry it before refilling. After you've done several refills you should check to be sure that the cart is still feeding ink properly. With the fill hole sealed and the ink outlet open blow gently on the air vent. The cart should drip with minimal air pressure. If you have to blow very hard to get the cart to drip you need to purge, dry, and refill. If you''ve accidently refillied with the wrong color ink, or if you mistakenly put black pigmented ink in the cart meant for dye based ink, you need to purge.

 

[PeterBJ]

Hi kevindd992002

Looking at the posted nozzle check I see two things wrong.

The first thing is that the cyan and magenta bands are split in two exactly at the middle with one half significantly lighter than the other. This indicates an electronic failure of the print head. No amount of cleaning can remove this fault, only a new print head might help. But it is a risky procedure to replace the print head, as a defective print head can ruin the logic board, and a defective logic board can ruin a new print head. On very rare occasions this electronic fault is caused by bad electric contacts between the print head and the contacts in the print head carriage. You could try cleaning the contacts with a piece of kitchen paper moistened with alcohol or an electronics contact cleaner, but don't expect miracles.

Here is a thread showing a typical nozzle check for a print head that has failed electrically: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=6747 . In this case a new print head brought the printer back to perfect working order, but also see this : http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3975 . In this case installing a new print head is a bad idea.

The part number for your iP4200 print head is QY6-0059 if you want to search for one, but as these print heads have become scarce and expensive, maybe the printer should be considered a write-off? It is a gamble to replace the print head and I cannot tell what your chances of success are; you decide if it is worth risking the money.

The second thing that is wrong is that the yellow band is discolored, it looks like black has leaked into the yellow nozzle and/or cartridge. This cross contamination can be caused by a leaking gasket inside the print head or by leaking cartridges.

I have lost an iP4200 print head because of leaking bad quality third party cartridges. The leaking ink crept under the conductors on the nozzle plate and created a short that took out half of the yellow nozzles. The leaking ink also entered other cartridges via the nozzles and caused cross contamination.

So I strongly recommend using only Canon OEM cartridges, either new or refilled with a quality refill ink specifically made for your printer model. Image Specialists is one good brand, there are other brands as well. Avoid using universal inks, such as those claimed to be suitable for all printers or for all printers of one brand.

If you cannot obtain a window cleaner with ammonia, then you could use pharmacist's cleaning solution: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=38818#p38818

Glycerol = Glycerine, and read 2ml instead of 2%. Concentrated ammonia is around 25% in strength, if you can only obtain a weaker ammonia, then increase number of drops accordingly.

As the inks are water based, isopropyl alcohol alone is not a good print head cleaner, a window cleaner with ammonia or pharmacist's solution is much better.

 

[kevindd992002]

Kevin - Where are you located? If you are in the US just buy a small bottle of original Windex with ammonia. As to the question of when to purge an ink cart - there are a few circumstances that call for purging. If someone gives you an OEM cart that was used, emptied, and left sitting around you should definitely purge and dry it before refilling. After you've done several refills you should check to be sure that the cart is still feeding ink properly. With the fill hole sealed and the ink outlet open blow gently on the air vent. The cart should drip with minimal air pressure. If you have to blow very hard to get the cart to drip you need to purge, dry, and refill. If you''ve accidently refillied with the wrong color ink, or if you mistakenly put black pigmented ink in the cart meant for dye based ink, you need to purge.

I'm actually located at the Philippines but I think I can find Windex with Ammonia in our local hardware store here. Got it, thanks for the answer regarding purging ink.

I have another Magenta ink here that is brand new in box, sealed, and unopened but the expiration date, I remember on the bottom of the box, is 2011. Can I still use that?

Hi kevindd992002

Looking at the posted nozzle check I see two things wrong.

The first thing is that the cyan and magenta bands are split in two exactly at the middle with one half significantly lighter than the other. This indicates an electronic failure of the print head. No amount of cleaning can remove this fault, only a new print head might help. But it is a risky procedure to replace the print head, as a defective print head can ruin the logic board, and a defective logic board can ruin a new print head. On very rare occasions this electronic fault is caused by bad electric contacts between the print head and the contacts in the print head carriage. You could try cleaning the contacts with a piece of kitchen paper moistened with alcohol or an electronics contact cleaner, but don't expect miracles.

Here is a thread showing a typical nozzle check for a print head that has failed electrically: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=6747 . In this case a new print head brought the printer back to perfect working order, but also see this : http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3975 . In this case installing a new print head is a bad idea.

The part number for your iP4200 print head is QY6-0059 if you want to search for one, but as these print heads have become scarce and expensive, maybe the printer should be considered a write-off? It is a gamble to replace the print head and I cannot tell what your chances of success are; you decide if it is worth risking the money.

The second thing that is wrong is that the yellow band is discolored, it looks like black has leaked into the yellow nozzle and/or cartridge. This cross contamination can be caused by a leaking gasket inside the print head or by leaking cartridges.

I have lost an iP4200 print head because of leaking bad quality third party cartridges. The leaking ink crept under the conductors on the nozzle plate and created a short that took out half of the yellow nozzles. The leaking ink also entered other cartridges via the nozzles and caused cross contamination.

So I strongly recommend using only Canon OEM cartridges, either new or refilled with a quality refill ink specifically made for your printer model. Image Specialists is one good brand, there are other brands as well. Avoid using universal inks, such as those claimed to be suitable for all printers or for all printers of one brand.

If you cannot obtain a window cleaner with ammonia, then you could use pharmacist's cleaning solution: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=38818#p38818

Glycerol = Glycerine, and read 2ml instead of 2%. Concentrated ammonia is around 25% in strength, if you can only obtain a weaker ammonia, then increase number of drops accordingly.

As the inks are water based, isopropyl alcohol alone is not a good print head cleaner, a window cleaner with ammonia or pharmacist's solution is much better.

Ok, I'll try replacing the print head then. I have a brand new spare here but I'm contemplating if I should try replacing this defective print head or clean it with Windex first to try and revive it?

And yes, from now on I will just use OEM cartridges. I learned my lesson already when buying these $8 low quality ink cartridges

 

[PeterBJ]

If cleaning the contact pads on the print head and the contact springs in the print head carriage brings no improvement I would not do any further cleaning attempts.

The reason is that the tiniest amount of water where it does not belong can create a short circuit that burns out not only the print head but also the logic board, making the printer a total loss. This has happened to me. I installed a print head that was not completely dry after cleaning in an iP5000. There was a flash and some smoke inside the printer when turning the printer on, and pigment black no longer worked.

Another reason for not cleaning the defective print head is that clogged nozzles is not the problem. Clogged nozzles would show a random distribution, not affect exactly half the cyan and magenta bands.

If the defect in the print head has no connection with cleaning the print head outside the printer, I think chances are good that the new print head will bring the printer back to working order. But if the fault appeared after the print head was cleaned outside the printer using water or some cleaning liquid containing water, there is a much larger risk that the logic board has been damaged by a short circuit caused by water where it does not belong. Water trapped behind the circuit board or the flexible ribbon cable on the print head is very dangerous.

But if the print head was bought as a spare for this printer and you have no other printers using this print head, then I recommend installing the new printhead, hoping everything will be fine. If the print head is new and in a sealed package, then you could also try to sell it and buy a new printer. But the iP4200 is much higher build quality than the newer Canon printers. The cartridges are also larger and easier to refill as they are completely transparent, and resetters are available. The newest Canon printers use completely opaque cartridges and no resetters are available. When or if resetters will be available is impossible to say.

 

[kevindd992002]

If cleaning the contact pads on the print head and the contact springs in the print head carriage brings no improvement I would not do any further cleaning attempts.

The reason is that the tiniest amount of water where it does not belong can create a short circuit that burns out not only the print head but also the logic board, making the printer a total loss. This has happened to me. I installed a print head that was not completely dry after cleaning in an iP5000. There was a flash and some smoke inside the printer when turning the printer on, and pigment black no longer worked.

Another reason for not cleaning the defective print head is that clogged nozzles is not the problem. Clogged nozzles would show a random distribution, not affect exactly half the cyan and magenta bands.

If the defect in the print head has no connection with cleaning the print head outside the printer, I think chances are good that the new print head will bring the printer back to working order. But if the fault appeared after the print head was cleaned outside the printer using water or some cleaning liquid containing water, there is a much larger risk that the logic board has been damaged by a short circuit caused by water where it does not belong. Water trapped behind the circuit board or the flexible ribbon cable on the print head is very dangerous.

But if the print head was bought as a spare for this printer and you have no other printers using this print head, then I recommend installing the new printhead, hoping everything will be fine. If the print head is new and in a sealed package, then you could also try to sell it and buy a new printer. But the iP4200 is much higher build quality than the newer Canon printers. The cartridges are also larger and easier to refill as they are completely transparent, and resetters are available. The newest Canon printers use completely opaque cartridges and no resetters are available. When or if resetters will be available is impossible to say.

Ok then, so it'll still be better to try and install the brand new print head. The thing is that after using these cheap cartridges I had this problem as we've been discussing before: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=62048#p62048

Then suddenly the print head came back to life after a few weeks and I could print normally. Then after a few weeks again, the current nozzle check pattern problem appeared without me removing the print head, so it just appeared out of nowhere.

Where exactly are the contact springs in the print head carriage?

 

[kevindd992002]

Bump!

 

[kevindd992002]

By the way, I went ahead and installed the new print head and installed all brand new color ink tanks and decided to use the old PGI-5BK cartridge with a lot of ink still left on it (it worked actually). My problem now is that the BK color cartridge seems to have lines in the nozzle check pattern. I already did two regular cleaning, one deep cleaning, and one print head alignment and now here's my latest nozzle check pattern:



I'm also getting the 8 alternate green-orange flashing which means Print head temperature rise error [5200]. I know that this error is dangerous because it means that not enough ink is in the nozzle again which may lead to a burnt print head again but my results below were still good. Why did it occur in the first place? What can I do to solve all of these problems?

Thanks.

EDIT: I tried reinstalling the print head and printed this image: http://printtest.eirasys.pt/Testes Impressao/Color Print Test Image 5.jpg and got this result:



The result seems to be decent. What do you think?

EDIT: And now I'm getting 20 alternate green-orange flashing which means Other hardware error [6500]. What is this? Is my printer really dead?