Faint nozzle check Canon Pro 9500

[palombian]

I would not buy a print head on eBay, only from a shop selling original Canon parts.
Price from a Canon repair center is the same, about € 140.

As said, I didn't take the risk buying a new head and find out afterwards the logic board was damaged.
Probably not, but as I found a nearly new 9500 II for slightly more than the replacement head, the choice was obvious.

I may be wrong, but in your case 5 colours missing at once, I don't trust it.

Very nice from The Hat to offer a head to test !
Just in case it is the board, I have a 9500 without head (to be precise a head giving 5 blue flashes).

 

[Andraz]

So, The Hat will indeed send me a print head to test and I will report back

 

[Andraz]

I received the print head today. Thanks, The Hat!

Here are the results:

Nozzle check

This looks ok. The upper pattern was printed with the head I received from The Hat, the lower one was printed with my print head. The colors definitely look more vivid in the upper pattern. They also look the same to an old nozzle check that I printed when my print head was still working properly.

Service print

I am not sure how to interpret this.

So, what does this mean?

 

[The Hat]

OK @Andraz, its decision time now, your machine is working almost perfectly and all it needs now is a new print head to give it a clean bill of health..

 

[palombian]

As I understand the head sent to you by @The Hat is one he uses for diagnostics, it has some nozzles worn out but is electrically OK, and this should prove the logic board of your printer is OK ?
In that case a new print head (bought via a reliable channel, no Chinese ...) will give you a good printer for about €140 + shipping.

No one of us can guarantee this of coarse, but until now I've been well advised here.
As always, your first (printer) is learning money.
Once you passed this step, you'll become addicted and print the rest of your life for nothing .

 

[Andraz]

Yes, I'll definitely buy a new print head, but I have just one final question before that.

Is the service print pattern ok? I mean, some of the colors are solid blocks, while others have that "bar-like" pattern (green, magenta, cyan).

 

[palombian]

Refer to pages 1_26 etc in the service manual


D=17.0 means that the ink absorber is only 17% full, the printer is not much used
LM=OK, LC=OK,Y=OK : a number of internal tests OK

I verified with mine: I have the bar-like patterns also in some colors, IMO it is ink feed related (Magenta is worse).
The one The Hat posted earlier is more even, though maybe the image has been saturated.

 

[The Hat]

The service print that I posted was nicked from a PDF and not from one of mine, I only go by the nozzle print and never bother to test with a service print, if it will print a clear nozzle check then that’s all that matters to me..

 

[Andraz]

I have now ordered a new print head and should receive it next week. Thanks everyone and I will report back next week

 

[The Hat]

@Andraz, What about ink… ?