Missing Orange Segments on my P400

[Charles218]

I use the InkJet Plumber App to do print test pages every 50 hours or so, it's a great little app. I recently found that it had stopped working and for a couple of weeks or so no test prints were fired. Several of the colors were clogged and all brought back except for orange. Using both Piezo Flush and also pushing air through the cart with a syringe has not helped to get orange back, about half the segments are missing. When pushing air I get little to no resistance and the paper towel under the cart is saturated with orange, I follow this with a head cleaning then test print. How do I get the orange back?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Pushing air tlhrough the nozzles - ? I rather would connect a syringe directly to the ink receptactle in the carriage , and not through a cartridge - and alternatively pushing gently and sucking a cleaning fluid several times, and with the last stroke a push to have a liquid - and not bubbles - in the ink channel. I got my P400 longer time ago working all the time although I was changing, mixing and testing various inks a lot.

 

[Charles218]

First, thanks for your response! That is how I started, using the Piezo Cleaning Fluid and their dummy cartridge and cleaning as per their instructions. When that did not work, I proceeded to follow the instructions that I found at InkProducts. Gently pushing air through the cartridge vent opening with a syringe. The paper towel that is first placed under the carriage becomes saturated with orange. Per their instructions, I follow this with a head cleaning and two of the three colors that were not showing are now 100%, but the orange is only about 50%. Will go back to the Piezo flush again and see if that leads anywhere.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Leave the cleaner for a while in the printhead ink channel before you remove it again - via a cleaning cycle etc.

 

[Charles218]

Well I tried letting the Piezo Flush soak for an hour or so without success. In looking at the cart, it may be that it has lost it's prime. There is a small amount of ink in the round chamber, I'm just not sure if it is enough. Will reprime and see what I get.

 

[Charles218]

Success at last, what appears to have worked was a bit of air pressure through the cart with a syringe. I am baffled why it did not work earlier as I tried several times on the problem colors. So I used a bit of air pressure, following up with a head cleaning, and finally the orange has a perfect test pattern.