MP530 Yellow problems

[bgc999]

I rarely use my printer and it developed a yellow banding problem. I removed the printhead and cleaned with distilled water. When reinstalled the black grid was broken in a couple of places but has now been resolved. Now, the yellow problem has returned.

Pre-cleaning I was using Swiftink carts, post-cleaning the carts are Meritline so I doubt the carts are the problem.

This is the nozzle check and a yellow box printed with paint:

This is the same after running a cleaning cycle:

The very strange thing to me is that in just a very short time (hours), the problem returns.

Any ideas?

 

[mikling]

The root of the problem is that the black ink is leaking or migrating to the yellow channel somehow.
There are two likely avenues.

The first possibility is that the black dye ink cartridge is not sealing perfectly. The result is that the black ink is slowly leaking out of the printhead, forms a bead and the bead is large enough to cross over to the yellow nozzles...thus ink and it will contaminate the yellow ink. When printing is done, this contaiminated is used up and the discolored ink is used up. Over time, it repeats.

The second possibility is that the printhead has developed a leak in one of the internal seals. This is difficult to repair or not reparable most of the time.

 

[The Hat]

Id go with a cartridge problem as mikling says if the photo black cartridge is not seated properly
then it will leak and cross contaminate the yellow then onto the magenta.

When inserting your cartridges make sure you hear an audible click which will tell you that the cartridge is locked in place
but if youre using compatible one then Id check them daily to be extra sure..

 

[PeterBJ]

I don't know your third party cartridges, so I cannot tell if they are good or bad. But I have had a print head in a Pixma 4200 ruined by a leaking bad third party cartridge. The leaking ink crept under the conductors on the underside of the print head and caused a short that took out half of the yellow nozzles.

To rule out or confirm a cartridge problem I recommend that you buy a new OEM Canon CLI-8 BK cartridge and try using that, even if it is expensive. If the Canon OEM cartridge solves the problem, you should replace all your cartridges with Canon OEM. You don't need to buy new cartridges, you can buy empty cartridges. Here is a British supplier: http://www.octoink.co.uk/categories/Refill-Tools{47}Kits/Empty-Cartridges/ and here is a Canadian supplier: http://www.precisioncolors.com/c5bcart.html . You can also check Ebay and Amazon.com for "Virgin empty" PGI-5/CLI-8 Canon OEM cartridges.

If the Canon OEM CLI-8 BK cartridge makes no difference, the problem with cross contamination is in the print head. As pointed out by mikling this error is very difficult to repair, and you risk not only damaging the print head but also damaging the logic board in the printer, making the printer a total loss. But if you want to try repairing the print head this thread might be of interest: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=8552

 

[Grandad35]

I have experienced cross contamination twice over the years, in both cases it was far worse than you have reported.
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=347)
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=9046#p9046

In both of my cases, the problem was with one of the carts. I suspect that it was caused by overfilling the sponges and that since I started making sure that the ink never covers the sponges I haven't seen it since (knocks wood).

It is interesting that it usually seems to involve black getting into the yellow, even though the yellow and black on my i9900 have 4 other carts between them and the yellow and black nozzles are over different purge pads.

 

[bgc999]

It it were just the carts, I find it hard to believe the same thing would happen with 2 different brands before and after I removed and cleaned the print head. My carts are in this order: 8bk-5bk-8y-8m-8c if that matters.

I removed the cli8 black and yellow carts and I didn't see anything, no leaking around the intake ports. The carts are all firmly clicked into place.

I guess I'll try a Canon cart if I can find one at a reasonable price.

Thanks,
BGC

 

[bgc999]

I installed a Canon CLI-8BK cart and I still have the same problem with the Yellow. So I guess this means the print head is fubared?

 

[The Hat]

I installed a Canon CLI-8BK cart and I still have the same problem with the Yellow. So I guess this means the print head is fubared?

Just looking at your cartridge line up, the 5bk cart is the most lightly cause of the leaking problem because its the one closest to the yellow.
I wouldnt go dumping your print head just yet, re-examine this black cart and reseat it or replace with another and try doing a few prints again..

 

[PeterBJ]

I wonder if the problem could also be caused by the yellow cartridge having a slight ink flow problem or just a higher resistance to flow and creating a larger negative pressure in use? I wonder if this could cause the yellow cartridge to suck up black ink from the purge pad when the print head is parked.

I think it is worth trying, to test the printer with both photo black and yellow new cartridges, before giving up on the print head.

IIRC I read somewhere, that cartridges all should be same brand, mixing cartridges with different ink flow characteristics could cause problems with cross contamination.

 

[bgc999]

The other posters seemed to think the problem was the dye black (cli8bk) due to the fact that all the dye nozzles are next to each other and the pigment black (pgi5bk) nozzle is far away.

I previously said I had Meritline carts, but the pg5bk is a Canon that I had already, but all carts were installed at the same time and new. So now both blacks are Canon and the problem persists.

I just got an order of carts that I ordered before I discovered the yellow problem persists so I will try to change the yellow and then I'll change the 5bk just for the heck of it to see what happens.