"The Yellow" strikes again

[stratman]

1. Result: the yellow ink appeared in the nozzle check pattern, but with a white strip of 3-4 mm width in the middle, on the whole length.

2. Result: the yellow completely disappeared.

Electronic failures typically do not come and go. Maybe this disappearance of Yellow is the final - final disappearance and is due to an electrical failure, but more likely is due to either cartridge malfunction or print head clog.

Significant in your story is the continued presence of ink in the print head by the ink inlet area. If no one has told you till now to first thoroughly flush the print head BEFORE soaking then we wasted some of your time. Flush as The Hat said above and do it on both the nozzle and ink inlet sides till no more ink is observed bubbling out. Use warm water, not hot. I position the print head under the streaming water in the sink so that it stands on it's own with the water streaming down and let it go for a minute or two, whatever floats your boat.

 

[turbguy]

A nozzle plate stamp test in order. If yellow is present, you probably have an electronic issue.

If you beleive the yellow channel is obstructed, you can also try this method, although there is some risk of nozzle plate damage if too much force is used, and it WILL be messy.

Get a cheap plastic turkey baster (Dollar Store type). Modify the tip as required to just slip over the print head's yellow ink inlet and provide a seal against the inlet gasket.ASSURE THE TURKEY BASTER IS CLEAN THROUGHOUT!

Partially fill the turkey baster with some windex or similar. Remove the print head.

Push the filled turkey baster against the yellow ink inlet gasket above a waste container and attempt to squeeze the fluid through (I've had to use a clamp/zip tie to hold the bulb on the baster). I cannot advise you how much force to use, go lighty at first, and then increase.

Observe what comes out the nozzle plate. If nothing comes out, the print head yellow channel is obstructed. If fluid/bubbles/foam come out, it's NOT obstructed.

I have successfully used this to clear stubborn obstructions in Canon print heads without disassembling the nozzle plate from the head (which is REALLY risky).

 

[stratman]

3. Flushed the cartridge (@stratman - post #3) using Windex solution (over the night),

Not what I said in post #3. Flushing the cartridge - yes. Over night - no. Using Windex - no. If you are concerned about Yello Gello then @The Hat recommends a specific regimen in flushing the cartridge. He can tell you his regimen for combating Yello Gello.

I did say to post a cropped scan of your nozzle check. This is important objective information. You have not posted a nozzle check(s). Why?

 

[stratman]

To all who are sure this is an electrical failure... you may be correct but you have not accounted for the sequence of events yet. Yellow printed, then didn't, then partially reappeared, then vanished altogether again. Electrical malfunctions do not typically come and go.

It may very well be there is now an electrical failure given the troubleshooting the OP has performed. @turbguy 's suggestion of gently forcing fluid into the Yellow ink inlet port may determine channel patency, although the degree of patency - partial or complete, may not be determined. Further flushing and soaking of the print head may improve patency.

Once a degree of patency in the Yellow channel is established, trying the print head with a known working cartridge is a test of electrical failure. Possibly both stamp and nozzle check tests together improve diagnostic reliability of electrical failure, but you should confirm the Yellow channel is not obstructed first depending on the circumstances of the observed failure.

 

[palombian]

A nozzle plate stamp test in order. If yellow is present, you probably have an electronic issue.

If you beleive the yellow channel is obstructed, you can also try this method, although there is some risk of nozzle plate damage if too much force is used, and it WILL be messy.

Get a cheap plastic turkey baster (Dollar Store type). Modify the tip as required to just slip over the print head's yellow ink inlet and provide a seal against the inlet gasket.ASSURE THE TURKEY BASTER IS CLEAN THROUGHOUT!

Partially fill the turkey baster with some windex or similar. Remove the print head.

Push the filled turkey baster against the yellow ink inlet gasket above a waste container and attempt to squeeze the fluid through (I've had to use a clamp/zip tie to hold the bulb on the baster). I cannot advise you how much force to use, go lighty at first, and then increase.

Observe what comes out the nozzle plate. If nothing comes out, the print head yellow channel is obstructed. If fluid/bubbles/foam come out, it's NOT obstructed.

I have successfully used this to clear stubborn obstructions in Canon print heads without disassembling the nozzle plate from the head (which is REALLY risky).

I tried this (using a syringe with adapter) with a similar problem without much result.
Agree I am puzzled also.

 

[palombian]

Forum consensus is hard earned anecdotal evidence that is as close to the scientific method as we are going to get. While there will always be alternative methods of resolving issues - and YMMV - the forum consensus is a methodological progression in its approach to resolving issues that have produced success and have been repeatable. This, and that they are relatively non-destructive, are reason why the methods have become consensus and are recommended as baseline approaches to problem solving.

I reviewed your thread on your problem. Some of this applies to the OP of this thread and is why I am I am posting here instead on your thread. While I noted you did try flushing cartridge(s), I don't see you tried a NEW cartridge. It may be the sponge(s) have separated or there is a "Gello" type effect of ink in the sponge. If your issue continued despite a NEW cartridge then you can be certain the cartridge is not involved. I do not see you tried this.

The FUNNEL shaped ink defect is fairly pathognomonic for ink starvation due to poor flow of ink in the sponge. It is unlikely an electrical malfunction would cause a cascade of loss of ink from the center to the outside of the ink loss area, especially if the ink loss can resolve and return as it has for you. Instead, an electrical malfunction will typically be an all or nothing event and typically be a straight line event. However, poor ink flow within the sponge would cause a loss of ink in the center of the sponge first where ink must travel further to saturate, and then the poor ink flow will gradually affect further out from the center. I also do not think a flow issue inside the print head would cause this funnel shaped defect that rapidly blooms to involve nearly the entire Cyan channel in your nozzle check unless some chunk of clotted ink was the cause, and then I would have to wonder how there is relatively constant and uniform ink deposited in the periphery.

At this point, because ink flow DOES return for a brief time in your nozzle checks, I continue to recommend you try a NEW cartridge, preferably OEM, and if that does not work then soak the print head using the instructions I linked in your thread and try again with the NEW cartridge. If you think this an effect of "Gello" then soak the print head for a few days first in Windex with Ammonium D to help dissolve the Gello, flush with water and consider a second soaking in liquid dish was soap like Dawn or Fairy for a few days.

@stratman

I sure appreciate your remarks and knowledge.
Since I learned a lot on this forum, and also for my own, I would like to sort out this when I have some time.

The 2 printheads are now bathing for more than a week, and from one there is still coming cyan colour from the inlet when refreshing the bath.
This points IMO to stubborn ink deposits.

Cartridge feed problems are of coarse not to be excluded, perhaps my procedure is not correct and leads to unrecoverable cartridges after a number of refills, but why only with some colours and not with others ?

Edit:

 

[stratman]

from one there is still coming cyan colour from the inlet when refreshing the bath

Add flushing of the print head under the faucet to your soaking regime to hasten the cleaning. Alternate the lukewarm (not hot!) or cold water flow over both the ink inlets above and the nozzles below for at least a couple minutes a side. Repeat as much as you'd like until no more Cyan leaking.

why only with some colours and not with others ?

A refiller's mystery.

I suspect one or more factors such as chemical composition of the ink, reaction of different inks used in refilling or even different batches from the same manufacturer or distributor, mikling's drying of ink in/on the sponge, dislocation of the sponge during refill, air lock, etc.

 

[The Hat]

but why only with some colours and not with others ?

99 times out of a hundred when you start having poor output it’s always the cartridge that has the problem, white a print head may get clogged, its a case of you have a clog or you don’t, clogs are usually static.

But with cartridges it’s a different matter altogether, there are so many variables involved inside a cartridge, firstly you’re not meant to refill them in the first place, but we do, and it mostly works, but not always.

Cartridges can get tired and filthy and can lose their ability to move ink from the reservoir to the outlet, and we are always at a loss when this happens, especially when we have just flushed and cleaned the inside of them.

Sometime the chemical and magnetic reaction that is used is just not there despite having a wonderfully clean sponge, but it still won’t allow the ink to flow freely, for no apparent reason that we can see.

If this happens then the cartridge may need a little rest, like a tonic to get it back on its feet again, if all else fails try the pharmacist tonic solution and let it sit in the cartridges for a few days, after all a clogged head sometimes gets a few days soaking to revived it.

When the dreaded spectre visits your cartridge there’s sometimes no alternative but stop using it and give it a bit of tend loving care and switch to another known good cartridge, the main ingredient to employ for all your refilling is patients, because basic understanding goes out the window at a time of need..

My sympathy’s @palombian...
https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/cleaning-solution-the-ultimate-test.5296/

 

[floK]

Update
First of all, I apologize for not responding to your latest posts, but - strangely - since last Saturday I have not received any email notifications, as it usually happens when a new post appears on the topic, so I didn't see them... I thank you now for all your advice!

So, after three days and several attempts - starting with gently flushing the printhead (under the tap with warm water, from both sides) to more "brutal" methods (I soaked it over last night in a solution of 1/3 pure isopropyl alcohol, 1/3 Windex and 1/3 warm demineralized water), the result is as in the attached photo of the nozzle check print.
At least, as long as a trace of yellow appears, I think the possibility of an electronic fault can be eliminated, which is good news.

Some additional observations:
1. Despite all the procedures, the inlet filter corresponding to the yellow cartridge still kept a yellowish color, while those for the other dye colors are perfectly white.
2. I noticed, almost by chance, some sedimentation in the bottle of yellow ink, something as a floating smoke - I hope that you can see it in the not so good pictures I've attached - that has dissolved after a bit of stirring. Now I use a new cartridge with original ink, but I wonder if these sediments are not guilty of the clogging of the intake, from the previous refillings.
3. Indeed, as @palombian says, the cyan ink seems to be in an infinite quantity, into the printhead! After so many flushing and soaking, it still colors the solution a bit!

That's all, for the moment. If not other suggestions, maybe in the next days I'll try the method recommended by @turbguy.
My only concern is if (and where) I can find a turkey baster, in my country...
And how could I seal it around the inlet...

 

[The Hat]

@floK, Despite us advising you to use a proper solution to soak your print head in, you still went back to using your own solution, at lest this time you omitted the ammonia, the solution you used is not great at solving print head problems for you.

But no matter what else you try now, I reckon its to late to save the print head, and after asking you to post a nozzle check for ages you finally gave us one in this post, and it tell us all we need to know.

The yellow has suffered from all most total nozzle failure and nothing you can do will bring it back, the electrical components used to fire the nozzles have all but burned out, sorry..