Need help. My nozzle checks are bad on my Canon PIXMA MX 870.

Need help. My nozzle checks are bad on my Canon PIXMA MX 870.

I am unable to get a correct looking nozzle check on my Canon PIXMA MX 870. My yellow cart (CLI-221Y) was bad on the nozzle check and I replaced it with a virgin cart from Carboodle (Canon cart with Carboodle ink). I did a number of cleanings and deep cleanings and I got the yellow to look good on the nozzle check, but the black (CLI-221BK) came out bad-very strange. I replaced the black cart with a virgin Caboodle cart (Canon cart with Carboodle ink). I did cleanings and deep cleanings, but the black cart still looks bad on the nozzle check.

Note: The bad carts were Canon carts with InkTec ink in them. The print head is now looking at a mix of InkTec ink carts and Carboodle ink carts. All carts are OEM Canon carts.

Question: What can I do to fix this problem?

Do I need to clean the print head? If so, please tell me what to do to clean the print head.

Thank you.

Here is a picture of my nozzle check. Please note the BK line. What does this mean and how do I fix this problem?

Thank you.

If the only problem you are concerned with is the bottom black starts off looking good but ends up looking bad, this is not a nozzle problem. The solid color bars under the PGBK grid repeat four times. So if you see a good pattern for the left-hand quarter of the bar, then the nozzles start off perfect but end up with an ink flow problem.

Are you aware that there are two different black inks, the one in the wide cartridge is a pigment ink and the one in the narrow cartridge is a dye ink? You should not be putting ink designed for the wide cartridge in to the narrow cartridge. Do you have two separater refill inks for the two cartridges and are you keeping them straight?

Your problem is that ink is not flowing fast enough from your narrow black cartridge through the print head. This could be a problem in your cartridge or in your print head. I would suggest buying a brand new Canon OEM narrow black cartridge and seeing if that fixes your problem. If it does, you know the problem is not in the print head. If it doesn't, you know the problem is in your print head.

What Inktec black inks have you been using and in which cartridges?

This seems to be a reoccuring problem from some other recent posts and my own experience yesterday. With a new mp560 (same print head and carts) with one refill on the oem carts I had a larger photo print session so I refilled some of my virgin empty carts for the job. On the 1st print problems developed with m, y, b , that had just been refilled but not flushed or purged. I swicthed in my refilled oem carts, ran a cleaning cycle and nozzle check and ran off 35 4x6 photos. A clog then developed in the yellow which a deep cleaning would not remove.

The problem with these small carts are cleaning and especially deep cleaning empty them right out. I just swicthed print heads, ran the same oem carts, and came up with a perfect nozzle check. It,s nice to have a spare , so I knew the print head had a clog from that newly filled virgin cart. I had no issues with my fresh oems that I refilled.

You may have an issue with your cart, or printhead, I cleaned my print head and re-installed today after again refilling my oem carts and came up with a perfect nozzle check.

I don't know, maybe these print heads are a little fussy, it was certainly more trouble than I expected, but thanks to this forum I knew what steps to take to resolve my issues.

I am thinking a few drops of windex in the outlet of the cart , then a cleaning and nozzle check until good ( repeat if necessary) ? Deep cleanings just empty the carts right out so I would avoid them if you can. Maybe some of the masters can give better advice

For myself I will not install a cart in my printer without a known history or a flush and condition from now on, I have seen several recent post that are very similar. I also am going to make a set of cleaning carts just for the head, it's a bit much to pull and clean unless you have to. Good Luck.

To: ghwellsjr

Thank you for your reply.

I am using InkTec CLI-221BK ink in the OEM Canon CLI-221BK cart.
I am using InkTec PGI-220BK ink in the OEM Canon PGI-221BK cart.

I have never to my knowledge put the wrong ink in the wrong cart.

I have replaced the OEM Canon CLI-221BK cart with the InkTec CLI-221BK ink with an OEM Canon CLI-221BK cart and I ran a nozzle check. See below. As you can see it made little difference.




Question: Do I need to clean the print head?

I did some research on the forum and they say to use Windex to clean the print head.

Question: Is using Windex a good idea? If so, how do I use the Windex to clean the print head? Please go into detail.

Question: What is the best method to clean a print head, if not Windex? Please go into detail.

I will be going out to purchase some Windex today.

Thank you


To: guyg

Thank you for your reply.

As you can see from my reply to ghwellsjr I am not having much luck in switching out carts and then running cleanings and deep cleanings.

I think I need to clean the print head-- yes, no?

Question: What is your method to clean the print head? Please go into detail.

In the mean time, I will be purchasing a new print head.

Question: Where is the best place to purchase a print head?

Thank you.

joseph1949
Looking at both of your nozzle checks I can see that they are different as the second one is worse than the first one.

To use the Windex quickly, first remove the CLI-221 cartridge from the printer
and dribble a dozen drops of Windex onto the ink inlet on the print head.

Then take your first CLI-221 cartridge with the InkTec ink in it and turn it upside down
then dribble another dozen drops of Windex into the ink outlet port then install that cartridge into your printer.

Now run a head clean (not deep clean) followed by a nozzle check and examine the results for any changes.
If its worse or no better than before then your print head may have had it.

I hope you get some improvement and that you can save your print head from the skip.
Another thing it would be better to purge the old ink out of all of your cartridges and start fresh
with the Carboodle ink as two third party inks usually dont mix very well in the cartridge..:/

My MP830 had the same flow problem on the dye (photo) black. I had tried over 3 months without fixing the flow problem.
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4428
It is not due to clogged nozzle. It is a partial clog at the channel between the nozzle and the ink inlet screen. I fixed it by soaking the print head in water for a few days.
Important: Make sure to dry the print head thoroughly before putting the print head back to your printer.

Put a masking tape on your photo black to mark the ink level. Do a cleaning cycle. Is the ink level go down or not? My photo black ink level did not move down that much even after a few deep cleaning cycles.

Good advice from embguy. Like the idea of marking the level of ink in the cartridge to see if it lowers with cleanings.

Question: What is your method to clean the print head? Please go into detail.

I am new to this also so I am far from an expert and I don't think the Hat will approve but I ran the print head under warm water, Soaked in a shallow tray of windex and also used a print head pump as described here http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=6624 . I improved on it by starting with 1/4 1.d. x 3/8 od tubing to fit my syringe. that would work on the color screens, but then used 3/8 i.d. x 1/2 o.d for the larger pigment screen. I want to say I went carefully with this and it did work well to flush the print head but this head was from a mp560 I got for free from craigslist w/ still partially full oem carts, a perfect nozzle check right off the bat. So, I really had nothing to lose as my printer is under warranty anyway. although I might have to stretch the truth a little as I still have a set of oem carts I could throw back in and just play dumb. After cleaning a quick warm blow dry and overnight dry and it was good as new. It had a pretty bad clog on the yellow but it was fine after cleaning.

Question: Where is the best place to purchase a print head?

Get another printer. Canon has the mx870 refurbished for $79.99 w/free shipping right now. That comes with a printer, print head, and a set of carts. A set of carts is around $55.00, a print head is from $60.00 to $90.00 so it is a no brainer. Another option but luck is involved is to keep your eye on craigslist for an mp560 ( same print head ) or an mx870, you may find one n.i.b. or free, who knows.

I think part of refilling is having a spare printer, it certainly makes trouble shooting easy and it seems they act up when you have a print job that needs to be done , as other much more experienced members have pointed out, so I tend to heed their advice (except the print head pump ) In about 3 months I have 2- mx870's, 2-mp560's, 1 mp990 ordered and I really think I will order another @ $71.99 shipped to have a spare, And I have yet to come across an ip4300, ip4500 ect. in a garage sale but i am sure I will as I go to quite a few My wife just shakes her head but is a good sport about it, so far.

To: The Hat

Thank you for your reply.

I would like to try your method for cleaning a print head. I have some questions on the drip method of cleaning a print head, but first I would like to tell you the history of my printer:

1. Purchased the MX870 from Costco in August, 2010.

2. Used the included Canon ink to make prints.

3. When the included Canon ink ran out I switched to Caboodle carts (Canon cart with Caboodle ink).

4. I decided to refill the Canon carts and the Caboodle carts with InkTec ink.

5. The printer started to produce bad text. Sent printer back to Canon. Received a refurbished unit (MX870) in return.

6. Refurbished unit started to produce bad text. Did a manual head alignment and now text is something I can live with.

7. The refurbished unit has printed out over 2000 sheets in the past six months.

8. I have not turned off my printer in the past four months except when to do a refill.

9. On 5/30/11 I saw a print out on which the color was off. I did a nozzle check and saw that the yellow was bad. Replaced the yellow refilled cart (with InkTec ink) with a virgin yellow caboodle cart (not a refill). Performed two cleans and a deep clean. Did another nozzle check and saw that the yellow was O.K., but the CLI-221BK cart (Caboodle cart refilled with InkTec ink) was very bad (see picture of nozzle check below).

10. I performed a number of cleans and deep cleans on the 221BK cart, but did not see a change. Replaced the InkTec ink cart with a virgin Caboodle cart (not a refill) and did cleans and a deep clean. I did see some progress and decided to take the print head out and clean around the nozzle for the 221BK cart. I used 99% isopropyl alcohol and cotton swabs to clean the nozzle and any ink on the print head. After this, I performed a nozzle check and what came out is what you see in post #2.

11. Per instructions from ghwellsjr I replaced the virgin Caboodle cart with an OEM Canon CLI-221BK cart and performed a nozzle check. The result is what you see on the second picture (#5 post). Note: did not perform any cleans or a deep clean on the OEM Canon CLI-221BK cart.

12. I think it is time to do a print head cleaning.

Below is very bad nozzle check. Please note that the BK line is just about non-existence. Nozzle check in post #5 is what I am showing now.




The Hat, please tell me how long I should wait (after I add the drops to the round nozzle on the print head (I believe this is where to add the drops) for the CLI-221 cart and add drops to the sponge outlet on the cart) before I do a clean and nozzle check.

Per your post there is no waiting. Is this true?

To: guyg and emguy

Thank you for your posts.

If the Windex drops do not work I will try soaking the print head or some other method to clean the print head.

Note: soak time is not a problem. I can wait days or weeks. I have two back-up printers that I can use in the meantime.

I will be getting a refurbish MX870 in the next few days (thanks guyg). I think it would be a good idea to get a new print head, also. Think a back-up for my back-up.

Thank you.