R2000 - from perfect nozzle check to 50% missing in a day

[racing_green]

I have epson R2000 for probably last 2 years. I use marrutt refillable cartridges with marrutt ink. The printer is not used very often and I used to have problems due lack of knowledge how to prime marrutt refillabe cartridges. Recently the printer kept perfect nozzle check, so I decided to print colour target and send it to obtain colour profile. After printing almost 100% of the first page the printer stopped asking for cyan ink. I checked - the ink was OK, buy that's normal with refillable cartridges - I just have to keep an eye on the inklevel and refill before it goes to far. After replacing the cyan cartdidge printer performed some priming/cleaninng - whatever it does after replacing a cartridge. Now the strange part: next day I wanted to print another page of the colour target, but I decided to run nozzle check first. To my surprise the check came out really bad. Cyan - ~50% missing, yellow almost gone, red/magenta - non existing, both blacks (photo & matte) are OK. The printouts right now are really _bad_.

Any idea what has happened??

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Priming cartridges should only be necessary once, and then it all should work unless you run the cartridges completely empty. But normally I don't think that it would be necessary to check ink levels beyond monitoring the status monitor indication and only refill when a cartridge is not recognized anymore.

The printer is not used very often

You may start a practice to make a small print on a regular base like after every 3rd day or another sequence and monitor the print for deterioration. You may use the WicReset software to do a more thorough cleaning with the 'Ink charge' function and do a nozzle check afterwards.

 

[racing_green]

Thanks for the suggestions! I use epson-printer-utility for linux to clean the head or do nozzle check. I think the printer somehow developed air bubbles in the ink lines, but I'm not sure how that happened.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

WicReset only runs under Windows, but offers a few more functions e.g. getting a status report, # of printed pages , error codes. And I don't know whether you get any ink status information under Linux ?

 

[racing_green]

Yes, I can see all cartridges levels, except I have marrutt cartridges and the software doesn't seem to match the reality I think that the linux epson-printer-utility is the same or very similar as on mac os.
Is it the same WicReset that you're writing about? http://www.wic.support/
Looks like there is a linux version

Linux info here: http://www.2manuals.com/forum/index.php?/topic/80250-wic-utility-under-linux/

 

[racing_green]

That's how it looks on fedora linux. "Unknown" is Gloss Optimiser

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

WicReset - that's the one I was referring to but I'm only familiar with the Windows version and don't know whether the Linux version offers the same functions.

 

[crenedecotret]

Did you every resolve this issue? I'm having the same problem. I suspect air could be making it's way into the printhead or cartridge

 

[racing_green]

Most of the colours have perfect nozzle check now, but not all, so it's not fully resolved. I strongly suggest to do some purge print and then leave the printer over night to settle. I'm considering CISS to avoid removing the cartridges completely.

 

[crenedecotret]

The CIS route could be tempting, but I would assume the same ARC chips are used than on the refillables, where you need to remove/reinsert the carts to have them register as full. I have a feeling eventually the valves on the cart would give out and this same annoying problem would return. I have new refillables on the way from precision colors. We'll see.. my sets were pretty old, and the "new" one I had as a spare was an extremely cheap one from ebay.

As it is now, i'm able to restore inkflow with a simple "unclog" from Qimage.

After getting a perfect nozzle check, I printed 8 5x10, 60 4x6s and 1 12x16 yesterday without any issues whatsoever... When I was done the nozzle check pattern was still perfect. 24 hours later, my orange is gone and the cyan is starting to show traces of broken lines. At this point, i'm pretty sure it's the carts.... other colors had issues, but are now OK after i've swamped around different carts from my different sets. I should try an OEM set, but not sure I can afford one right now

Sorry for hijacking your thread, I figured we might be able to share our results