Canon MX850: U052 error (wrong print head installed)

Hi 6PTsocket

Thanks for the feed-back and congratulations with reviving the printer. IMO the printers of the PGI-5/CLI-8 generation were the best Canon ever made for home use, with the transparent refill friendly cartridges and a high build quality. I think the expected life span of the printer of only 8 cartridge sets is far too pessimistic.

6PTsocket said:

Hi stratman. Whether you go by tanks or pages it looks like it comes to the same idea that a print head has a life span and eventually wears out as opposed to some mechanical part that may or may not break, like a car tire vs a door handle.

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Except for energy, which is hypothesized to be conserved, everything has a "life span", including door handles.

Hi,

6PTsocket said:

Somebody said about 8 sets of ink tanks.

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It is very difficult to predict.
In my country many Pixma printhead dies after ~1500 pages because of poor refilling habits.
But also found one printer, with over 65000 prints done without problem, most likely on first printhead.

Ł.

My stratman , aren't we getting philosophical? Couldn't resist? You know what I meant
When a tire wears out we say "oh well I got 65000 miles out of it". When a door handle breaks we say "holy @#$% I never saw one of those break before".

6PTsocket said:

When a door handle breaks we say "holy @#$% I never saw one of those break before".

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Actually, I have seen a guy pull the handle off a door of VW Bug. It was all very Hulk-like. So, I guess would say I've seen that before.

But, I hear your point.

I see that this thread is 2 year old. I discovered it via Google Search for "U052 Error Print Head installed mx850".

I reseated print head, error message didn't go away. I didn't try cleaning the print head due to the low amount of success posted by others.

I called Canon Parts today and spoke to Kim. She told me that the Canon Part # QY6-0075 is discontinued and the items was not in inventory. I also asked her about Canon Part # QY6-0069. She said that this item is also discontinued with no stock.

Considering the less than stellar reviews of the Canon MX-922, I will seek other Multi Function Printer options and am leaning towards the Epson WF-3640 at Costco for $109.99. Normal price is $159.99, but Costco has it on sale until 05/28/2016.

The MX-850 was a great printer. Unfortunately, inkjet printers appear to only last 5 years. I can't see myself spending $109 for a print head on eBay, when a new printer, with newer features, can be purchased for the same price. The $109 Print Head price could be justifiable if the printer was $400 but not on a $129 printer.

I have noticed that people are asking a high dollar amount for used MX850 Printers and MX870 Printers on eBay and Craigslist. Too high.
I saw a Craigslist seller trying to sell his brand new in the box MX870 for $250. Unfortunately, it will be out of warranty.

Just wanted to post this so that any other U052 victims can benefit from my recent experience.

@scseh, When you buy a Canon printer you have to expect the death of the print head sooner or later, and it’s not govern by time because it can happen in the first six months of ownership or tens years down the road.

If you tend to buy a printer based on price alone then your not getting good value for your money, but if you buy the printer for the love of been able to print whatever you want, then the price becomes irrelevant, because its doing exactly what you want.

The MX870 on Craig’s List at $250 sound like a real bargain to me, it’s new in a box and it will last you for years, it has all the bells and whistles that you like in a printer so what more could you ask for, or better still you could get a Pro 100 for $90, now that’s real quality..

In my case the replacement printhead did not work, directly out of the package. I tried it on 2 Pixma MX860 printers, on each of which an old printhead worked fine. I was tempted to return it - especially because the printhead as delivered was wet with ink and some other fluid, but found that a printhead cleaning procedure enabled it to function well (for me, this time).

For the procedure you will need: 1. Water; 2. Glass cleaner such as Windex; 3. Rubbing Alcohol; 4. A dish or bowl (plastic or glass or ceramic (or metal?) whose diameter is large enough to accommodate the printhead; 5. A heat source to dry the printhead after cleaning.

Procedure: 1. Spray the printhead liberally with glass cleaner. You may want to direct the spray into the incoming and outgoing ink orifices; 2. Soak the printhead in a water+glass cleaner solution dish for an indeterminate time; 3. Swish the printhead around in the solution to extract from the printhead ink that was presumably used in manufacturer testing; 4. Rinse the printhead off with clean water. Pat its orifices with a towel or paper towel; 5. Dispose of the solution; 6. Repeat steps 1 through 5 until no ink seems to be leaching from the printhead either into solution or onto the towel; 7. Pat the printhead dry with a soft towel or paper towel; Do NOT let the printhead dry any further yet!; 8. Soak the printhead in rubbing alcohol in the dish. Swish it around with the goal of displacing water left in the printhead with the rubbing alcohol. Let it sit in the solution for an hour or more; 9. Repeat step 8 with new rubbing alcohol another time or two; 10. Dry the printhead with non-destructive heat. I used a combination of soft toweling, sunshine and forced air house heat; 11. Try it out again in the printer. I hope that it works for you.

I agree the printers of this generation were very well built.
But since there are no spares (=printheads) anymore, paying more than the price of a new printhead, even for a new printer doesn't make much sense.

A better strategy indeed is stocking end-of-series new printers.