ip4000 has a reoccurring clog that I can't fix

[hpnetserver]

CP83, you can verify if your Magenta tank is indeed leaking to cause the problem without replacing it. Just use a piece of adhesive tape to tape over the ink fill hole. Do not use a 3M tape often seen around offices or homes. It is not sticky enough to stay sealed. Use one that is really sticky. OK, you also want to make sure you do not overfill the sponge. I learned a lesson myself from that which resulted a similar problem like yours. You will see if this simple experiment fixes the problem. Your print head should be in good shape still.

 

[CP83]

hpnetserver, I put a piece of packing tape (very sticky stuff) across the top of the cartridge last night. It covers the ink fill hole and the vent. I just have it this way temporarily until I get my new cartridges. Anyway, the cyan has printed fine since I did that. I just uncovered the vent so I could see if that would make it leak and sure enough after about 5 minutes it printed magenta at the beginning of my cyan test print. After I did that I covered the vent back with the tape and after printing a few pages of cyan to clear out the magenta it is printing fine again.

I believe the sponge is definitely overfilled. It looks completely saturated with ink. Their is no white at the top of it at all. Do you think that's the problem?

 

[hpnetserver]

CP83, the tape may have cured a leaking problem. But it will not cure the sponge if it is fully saturated. So you may still have a problem caused by the oversaturated sponge. You can blow through the vent a little bit to force some ink out of the sponge from the exit hole at the bottom. Just be sure the vent is clean before blowing air into it. Give it a try. I believe your Maganta cartridge will work just fine. But remember there was a leak so you still need to fix it. Maybe the screw wasn't tightened. It should be easy to fix. Good luck aian.

 

[CP83]

Thanks for the reply hpnetserver, I think I will just wait on the new cartridges. They should be here in a few days. This one has given me such problems that I'm almost afraid to mess with it now that I have the leak stopped with the tape. I'll let you know if the new carts fix the problem. I really want to thank you and all the others who have taken the time to help me with this problem.

 

[digitalartist71]

hopefully it isn't the head gasket.

my IP3000 is starting to do the same thing...but my Magenta portion of the head is spitting out cyan (or the cyan is running into the magenta section)..until I do a cleaning. Have to do everyday also it seems...seems to leak overnight. Clean 3 times or so..and it's cleared up.

no sign of cross-contamination either between the carts in the sponges etc. pretty clean...even at the inlet ports and rubber round gaskets on inlet ports. First time i had a problem... the PIGMENT black totally stiopped printing. took whole printer apart (after destroying the head trying to figure out)...and the purge unit/lines were stopped up. Cleared them. (was using generic balck carts the whole time, now I use genuine Black only now). Bought new head... and worked fine...head isn't but a few monthes old... so the GASKET better not be bad again this quickly! I am guessing the cheap generic cyan is leaking or not sealing right so it's leaking across the nozzles overnight.

What si the best way to cure that? The other carts seem ok...every so often i get a weird cart it seems. I guess the critical area would be the round gasket at the inlet port and cart outlet port?

I just took a look at again... it does look like a small amount of cyan has reached the magenta outlet port....very small amount... but still yet it does exist.

SO wondering if the cyan is being syphoned up into the magenta? Then clean....and pushes it back out?

my test print when this occurs shows obviously the balck is clean... the cyan had some band dropouts.... and the magenta section was printing pure cyan... yellow was solid.

cleaned... magenta coming back through mixing to appear purple...cyan filling back out again.
clean again.... magenta clear again..and cyan clear again.

schit... wonder if the gasket is the culprit..ani't taking apart though unitl totally screwed. once you mess with those 2 screws and the gasket almost impossible to get a good seal agin it seams. then leakage in all ports.

 

[Grandad35]

digitalartist71,

I have experienced severe cross contamination twice. In each case, the contaminating ink reached so far up into the cart that I had to purge the cart. In each case, I cured the problem by blotting up the excess ink in the sponges that cover the print head in the "head park" position and (obviously) swapping carts. Were the original problems caused by a bad seal on the refill screw or by an ink buildup on the sponge? I don't know, but the same carts were put back into rotation after they were purged and refilled and continued to function properly.

 

[digitalartist71]

thanx for the info. I am guessing it's just this particualr magenta or cyan cart. i will continue to use unitl empty then put another in..hopefully will ok then.

 

[fotofreek]

Digital - prefilled carts seem to have a greater quality contol issue than OEM carts. The very best is to refill OEM carts with good bulk ink. My experience has been that Canon carts are better quality. I have also used hobbicolor and MIS virgin carts and they have worked well. I replace the hobbicolor nylon screws and the MIS tiny rubber plugs with stainless steel screws and o-rings before the first filling to assure ease of filling and a positive seal. I've never experienced a leaking cart. After several refills even the best carts lose the ability to feed properly and have to be purged to restore them to as-new condition.

 

[Fano]

I'm having a problem with my Canon ip4000 that has me completely stumped. The printer is about a year old and the only ink I've ever used in it is Hobbicolors ink. It has always worked great until about 2 weeks ago when I refilled the cartridges. What happened was that the day after I refilled the carts I did a nozzle check and the cyan color looked kind of magenta/purple. I figured the print head was clogged on the cyan color so I ran a few light cleaning cycles and eveything was fine again. The next day I ran another nozzle check and it was the same way again. I did a "deep cleaning" and it worked fine again. Next day another nozzle check and same problem again. I thought maybe it was a problem with the cartridge so I happened to have an extra hobbicolors cart that had never been used and I filled it with cyan ink and it still did the same thing.

Over the past few weeks I've tried cleaning the nozzles and head with compressed air, I've run warm water through the nozzles, I've let the head soak in windex on a paper towel. Each time I clean it it will work fine the rest of the day and then sure enough I can check it the next day and it is printing the wrong color again. I've tried printing a whole sheet of just cyan and it starts out printing what appears to be magenta/purple and as it goes down the page it has allot of banding and then it starts to turn cyan. If I keep printing long enough the cyan will work fine but the next day it starts all over again. At this point as much as I've cleaned it I can't imagine that it could possibly be clogged. I think it must be something else.

Does anyone know what the problem could be? Thanks!

I had the exact same problem as you.
After much trial and tribulation I figured out it was the Cyan ink that was defective.
I switched to MIS ink in June,just the Cyan colour, and the printer has worked perfectly since.
It solved my problem so it may help you.

 

[CP83]

Fano thanks for telling me about your experience but today I got my new hobbicolors kit and when I opened the printer to install the new cart the entire head was covered in magenta. I guess after sitting a few days without me doing a cleaning cycle the ink had built up. So it was definitely the magenta that was leaking. The park pad was saturated with the magenta also. I soaked it up with some paper towels the best that I could and put the new cart in and so far so good. I'll check it again in the morning and see how it is doing. I'll report the results back here tomorrow. Thanks again!