Clogged Cyan on Canon IP4000

[wilko]

I have been trying to get Cyan to print correctly but after roughly one page of printing the ink runs out. After cleaning a nozzle check shows the Cyan to be fine then it starts to dry up after about a page of printing. Thought it might be ink starvation but I've tried three different cartridges..

Anyone any ideas?

 

[ghwellsjr]

Swap your magenta and cyan cartridges and do cleanings until the colors show up swapped in a nozzle check. Then repeat your printing and see if it is the magenta or the cyan that now has the problem. If it is the magenta, then you know there is a ink flow problem inside the print head. If it is still the cyan, then you know the problem is in your cartridges.

Please post your results.

 

[wilko]

Swap your magenta and cyan cartridges and do cleanings until the colors show up swapped in a nozzle check. Then repeat your printing and see if it is the magenta or the cyan that now has the problem. If it is the magenta, then you know there is a ink flow problem inside the print head. If it is still the cyan, then you know the problem is in your cartridges.

Please post your results.

Swapped cartridges as suggested and nozzle checks are ok for both colours. Magneta and Cyan both print ok in nozzle check after swapping.

However, when I try for a blue print, it runs out and Magneta takes over.

 

[ghwellsjr]

If you mean that when you print a large blue field, it starts off blue and then changes to magenta, then it appears that the problem is in your cyan cartridge. If you put the cartridges back where they belong and the same blue field again changes to magenta, that would confirm the problem. Blue is printed using both the cyan and magenta cartridges so if it changes from blue to magenta with the cartridges normal or swapped, this means the cyan cartridge had a problem. If all three of your cyan cartridges do the same thing, then maybe it's time to buy a new Canon OEM cartridge. If you are refilling, what ink do you use and what cartridges are you refilling?

 

[wilko]

Definitely not the cartridge. Tried a brand new OEM Cyan cartridge.
Nozzle print looks fine but when I print blue it starts off OK then magneta lines appear in the blue.

Must be the printhead but can't understand hy nozzle check looks fine.

 

[RMM]

If you start off printing blue fine then it disappears you have an ink flow problem somewhere. If you have replaced the cartridge with a new oem, then maybe it is possible that the internal passageways inside the printhead aren't flowing properly?

 

[ghwellsjr]

You said in post #3 that you swapped the cyan and magenta cartridges and did some cleanings and nozzle checks. When you did the nozzle checks, what color was the first bar under the black grid pattern?

Can you scan it and post it here?

 

[wilko]

ghwellsjr

Finally solved it. Did a hot water soak of printhead and syringe water pressure through intakes. Managed to clear clogs.

Thanks though for explanation about magneta and cyan cartridges. Could come in useful another time.

 

[ghwellsjr]

Could you please give us a blow by blow account of exactly what you did--How hot was the water? How did you apply it to the print head (flowing water or submerging, etc)? How did you use a syringe? Did you use tap water or distilled water, etc? What did you do to dry out the print head before putting it back in the printer? How many times did you have to repeat the cleaning before it worked? And any other details.

And do you have any explanation for why when you swapped the cartridges, the clog didn't swap to the other color cartridge?

Thanks, it will help others learn from your experience.

 

[wilko]

ghwellsjr

First of all I ran hot water from the tap over the printhead nozzles to clear the ink. I then submerged the printhead in hot water. I use hot water from the tap because I live in a soft water area. The water is hot but not too hot so that you cant put your hand under the tap flow.

I have a syringe which has a small plastic tube bult into it. The tube diameter is too small to fit over the printhead nozzles so I use a short length of plastic tube (the sort you use for siphoning wine) to fit over the smaller tube. I then used the syringe to force water through the printhead nozzles until the water was running clear.

I left the printhead to dry for 24 hours and then made sure the electrical contacts were completely dry before placing the printhead back into the printer. I did a couple of cleaning cycles to expel any water residue and the blocked nozzle is now clear.

I might add that this is not my usual way of clearing clogs as I prefer filling cartridges with hot water and clearing clogs that way. However, this was a particular stubborn clog and my cartridge cleaning method didn't wok this time.

As regards swapping cartridges I did this before cleaning the printhead and found that the cyan cartridge printed blue in the magneta printhead nozzle and the magneta printed light purple in the blue nozzle.

As I said before nozzle checks printed fine but magneta took over from cyan after a page or two of printing. Symptoms of cartridge starvation but it was not the case on this occasion.