Cyan Quits Again On Brand New Print Head

[ghwellsjr]

There can be more than one problem contributing to the same symptom. We need to eliminate the potential problems one by one until everything works. Cannonvictim has already installed a new print head and new OEM cartridges (which probably cost him more than his printer) and yet he still has the problem.

Everyone should always start by checking the purge system whenever there are printing problems because without a working purge system all the other remedies won't work.

 

[cannonvictim]

When i started having this problem and before I replaced the print head, I put windex on both pads and ran cycles and repeated the Windex until the pads were both nearly pure white and I think the windex was always gone. Thus, I think I have tried what you suggested. I suppose it's now the landfill for both the printer and the almost $100 collection of bargain ink that I confidently invested in when I had run several cartridges of each color. Well, it's live and learn. I got a replacement Pixma MP 270 for $25 at Fry's in Tacoma, WA. So I'll have to be content with a second rate printer that works for a while I guess. If anyone has a further fix please let me know. Otherwise I may be in the market for another printer soon. When that time comes, it would be nice to know if there are any quality printers left on the market.

 

[leo8088]

I don't understand how the purge system would only be bad on the Cyan cart - it's the same pad for all the colours?

I replaced the printhead with a new one and the same problem immediately repeated.
My assumption was that the problem was not in the printhead but in the printer:

Unless the printer has been in storage under poor condition for a lengthy period of time It is very unlikely the purge unit is faulty. This is based on my experience with quite a few printers. I never had to mess with the purge unit. Of course there may be exception always. What ghwellsjr suggested may be right on the money. But if not it won't hurt anything anyway. It is a suggestion that I had doubt before. But I understand that it is also his experience too. I would do what he suggests just to make sure the purge unit is not missed.

I believe the problem you had was a problem in the ink cartridges. You replaced the print head but you did not replace the ink cartridges. That usually will repeat the same problem on the new print head. A very common problem of refilled ink cartridges is they leak. They don't leak like dripping ink. In fact they don't. Only after been installed ink starts to leak out from the nozzles. It is a very slow leak usually. But you will get streaky prints from time to time. It can make you go crazy after doing a tons of cleaning cycles with no effect. You would naturally think the print head is ready to go the landfill. It's not. Fix the cartridges and the problem will completely cure by itself.

 

[jackson]

If the ink levels on all the new carts are going down then the purge unit is working .
If the cyan is not going down - what part of the purge unit is dedicated to that slot in the printhead?

 

[cannonvictim]

I looks like all colors are going down except cyan. I'm sorry if I don't understand the purge test that ghwellsjr suggested. Did I not already do the equivalent test when I cleaned the pads? It won't take long to do again if not but otherwise it would just be a waste of time.

 

[ghwellsjr]

You have already done the purge test. Thanks for reporting.

I think leo8088 has the correct scenario: you had some bad ink, especially your cyan, which clogged your original print head and then your new print head. By the time you bought the new OEM Canon cartridges, the old cyan ink had already clogged the new print head and so the new ink didn't help.

It looks like the thing to do is to try to unclog one of your print heads by washing in warm tap water, soaking in Windex or other window cleaner, rinsing in distilled water, drying as much as possible, then leaving the print head sit in a warm spot for two days to let the internals dry. Before you swap print heads, or any time you plan to remove a print head for more than a few minutes, you should evacuate the ink in it by making some cleaning cartridges and doing deep head cleanings.

Good luck.

 

[jackson]

My (erroneous) take that the purge unit had been found ok and a new head with new oem carts were installed - thus pointing to an electrical problem upstream from the head.
I'm glad I was wrong and the printer may be saved.

 

[cannonvictim]

Thanks for the cleaning method,GH. Could you please let me know if I need to "evacuate the ink in it" when I remove the print head to wash in warm tap water. And how do you make cleaning cartridges? I tossed my old cartridges when I starttd having problems. Can a cleaning cartridge be made from a new cart. I'v got a bunch of those that I got from LaserMonks. Thanks again.

 

[ghwellsjr]

You don't need to evacuate the ink if you are going to immediately wash the print head. Just realize that a print head exposed to the air will dry out the nozzles and the inlet ports in less than an hour and it will probably be very difficult to clean.

You indicated that you replaced your original print head with a new one. That means your original one is probably thoroughly clogged by now. You probably will have better luck cleaning the new print head that is now in your printer and you won't have to worry about evacuating the ink out of it.

Since the printers that use cartridges with chips in them won't let you do head cleanings with the ink cartridges removed, the best thing you can do if you want to remove a print head for long term storage is to drain the ink out of a set of cartridges that have working chips. It is fairly simple to do this. Take a paper towel and fold it in half four times so that it is 1/16th it original size and has 16 layers of towel. Fold over about a quarter inch of one corner and place this in the outlet hole. Wrap the two diagonal sides along the side of the cartridge and hold it all in place with a rubber band. Set it right side up on a surface that can tolerate ink. After a few hours or overnight, the paper towel will be saturated with ink. You may have to repeat but eventually, all the ink will be out of the cartridge. It may not be completely clean but that won't matter. Do this for each of your colors. Then you can put these cartridges in you printer and do deep cleanings followed by nozzle checks until nothing prints. Here are some pictures to show this process.

If you had some used cartridges that register as empty and if you have a chip resetter, you can make them into cleaning cartridges. You can either inject Windex or other window cleaner into them by the German method or you can dribble Windex into the outlet port while the cartridge is upside down. This will saturate the sponge material but it won't go into the reservoir but you can add more if the sponge starts to get dry. You can use this mixture of ink and Windex to clean your print head by doing cleanings and nozzle checks instead of removing the print head from the printer.

Another way that some people have used to evacuate ink out of a print head is to blow air into the inlet ports with canned air. This can be messy but it probably works.

Also, you should never toss your old cartridges, they are worth $3 each if you recycle them at Staples. Right now they will take any brand. From time to time, the different stores allow any cartridge brand to be recycled so even if Staples quits allowing this, some other store may do it again in the future. Do not take your cartridges to Office Depot because their program require you to spend as much as you recycle. At Staples, you can get stuff for free, you don't even have to pay sales tax.