EPSON 3800 'no maintenance cartridge error'

So I had no yellow. AT ALL. I tried the flushing procedures as instructed on inkjet mall. Multiple regular cleanings, multiple power cleanings. Nothing.
I purchased the piezo flush kit with the 9 carts. Soaked the head for 3 hours over a bounty towel, did more power flushes. Still no yellow. All the other lines were working perfectly (a faint pink color since the piezo flush is pink and all the ink was purged from the lines.) More regular cleanings. Let the head sit over a piezoflush moistened towel again for hours. More power cleanings. Nozzle check shows complete absence of yellow. Maintenance cartridge is full of piezo flush so I had to get a new one.

I took the printer apart as per the service manual. I accessed the dampers. I cleaned them with piezo flush. I cleaned the little spikey things that go into the dampers. I put a paper towel under the head and gently aspirated the spikey thing that goes into the yellow damper. I got out yellow crud. I flushed the little spikey thing gently back and forth. The towel underneath eventually only showed piezo flush.

I reassembled the printer. I did a power clean. I did a nozzle test. I got the yellow channel back although some nozzles were absent in the yellow as well as a couple of other channels. The printer seemed to be recovering! I was psyched.

I turned the printer off. Then I turned it back on. I got a ‘no maintenance cartridge’ error on the LCD. I pulled out the cartridge thinking it wasnt seated well. There was a little cloud of smoke in the center part of the cartridge - smelled like something shorted? There was no smoke coming off the print head or out of anywhere else - just a little cloud sitting in the middle of the maintenance cartridge where the waste ink gets squirted. I looked inside but there was no liquid dripping or anything. I put in a NEW OEM maintenance cartridge. I get the notice that the maintenance cover is open. I close the cover. Then I get a brief error that there are no ink cartridges. Then it says there is no maintenance cartridge. Turning the printer off and on and repeating the cartridge change I STILL get the same sequence of errors.

I also have a cartridge that is full and was giving me a cartridge full error a couple of days ago (All those power cleanings filled it up with piezo flush coming out of the other 7 color lines). I put the old cartridge in. Instead of a cartridge full error, I get the same ‘no maintenance cartridge error’. I clean the chip on the new maintenance cartridge with alcohol, let it dry and reinserted it. Still the same sequence of errors.

So what happened? Why did the printer work once and now Im getting the 'no maintenance cart' error after what smells like a little short somewhere?

so i thought about it. The only way a 'puddle of smoke' would get to the maintenance cartridge is if the print head fried itself. The smoke would be evacuated with the waste ink. This may be why I am also getting the 'no ink error' before the 'no maintenance cartridge error' But why should the print head fry itself?

The very last Epson Printer that I owned went a similar way, I had a leaky cartridge and ink went everywhere, then I got the smell of something burning and I saw smoke coming from of the print head, she never worked again after that...

Thank you for your prompt reply. I restarted the printer this morning. No errors. Bizarre. I went to print a nozzle check-totally blank. I did a power clean, still blank.Another regular clean, totally blank. I removed the carts w piezoflush, moved the chips back to the OEM carts and tried again w a power clean. Nozzle check still shows NOTHING.

I put another new maintenance cart in and ran a regular cleaning. The cart gets fully wet. Colors are in all the lines. Nozzle check from the pc or the printer are still totally blank.

So frustrated. Clearly ink is moving through the lines during the cleaning cycles, but the printer doesnt print when it’s told to do so.

It just sits there laughing at me.

Is it possible to damage the hardware with a short to create this behavior?

Where should I look?

The troubleshooting on service manual says

Ink cannot be fired normally due to a failure of the parts listed in the Remedy column.Inspect the following parts, and fix any abnormality.

Pump Cap Unit (PUMP, CAP, ASSY)
See 4.3.9.1 PUMP, CAP ASSY. on page 148.
The tube of the CAP ASSY., PUMP is disconnected.
The tube of the CAP ASSY., PUMP has become flat.
The cap rubber is broken.
The cleaning blade is broken or some foreign substances have adhered tothe blade.
There is something wrong with the connection of the ink cartridge, ink holder,tube, damper, and print head. (Replace the INK SYSTEM, ASSY.)
The head FFC is not connected correctly.

Print head
See 4.3.9.5 PRINT HEAD on page 159.
Main board
See 4.3.4.1 BOARD ASSY., MAIN on page 112

I checked the FFCs and all the little plugs that go into the small circuit board (BOARD ASSY SUB) Everything looks fine. no ink splatters connections good.
The cap rubber is intact (the rubber thing that surrounds the two little sponges where the print head sleeps)
The wiper blade is clean.

Is my print head toast?

Where should I look?

The only thing I can suggest is to check the white data cable going to the print head for signs of scorching, mine had gone black and I cut off the damage bit and reinserted it but still no joy...

thank you. no scorching anywhere on that little pcb sitting on print head damper assembly or the ribbon cables going to it. All the little cables are properly plugged in

The mystery is the smoke part. Given the pump uses a rotary arm against the plastic tubing for the pump action, similar to an IV pump, I don't know if it could pump smoke only. The head moves off the capping station a few times on firing up to get some wiper action so any smoke should dissipate, imho. Only way is if the lines were totally clear of liquid. If the print head did go up in smoke, then it might make its way through the empty ink lines to the maintenance tank.

It could be if the lines were really plugged, then the pump's motor could not rotate and that is the part that fried. I got some worm-like bits about 50mm long out of mine during one of its "plugged up fits." One one printer the exit hole where the two lines feed onto the maintenance tank were completely plugged where I had to dig the old ink out with a pick and some brake cleaner. Ink turns into a thick goo it seems. Another time I left the capping pump motor unplugged on dismantling, but that gave me an error on the LCD and then I remembered about "that little plug" and had to take it apart again.

The maintenance tank could have a buggy connection between its contacts and the printer. Much the same for the ink carts where the display goes batty at times. Sometimes I need to put a piece of thick paper or cloth under some of my ink cats so they will register, and just which ones throw up the error may not be the ones with the X either. My magenta always seems to be the buggy one in mine.

Sometimes just slamming the ink cart's lid down clears the error so I know a connector isn't sitting right with some cart. I use a fiberglass scratch brush on the contacts and some DeOxit Gold to clean them.

There have been times I unplug the beast and let it sit, and then plug it back in and all is well again with the thing. Weird.

Good luck!


W.F.

Thank you for your detailed reply. The printer does cleaning properly and wastes ink the way it should. It’s just the printing that fails. I ordered some de-oxit and will clean the ffc cables that go into the little circuit board on the print head and we’ll see.