Canon ip4000 cross contamination & other issues

[Calculon]

Hi, I've just come across this excellent forum after searching for solutions to a printer problem I'm having and was hoping I could find some help. I've recently started to print a lot of photo quality images on a5 sized glossy photo paper and was very happy with the results I was getting. I haven't done any ink refilling but was using some 3rd party ink cartridges which seemed fine, at least till now.

The first problem I got was it suddenly started producing a noticeable grainy quality to the images, passable but not nearly as good as it was producing previously. I thought it might be something to do with the paper, so I tried some very good quality 290g paper but it still does the same. I also replaced all the cartridges with new ones, no change. This is using Photoshop and the highest print setting by the way.

The next problem that has developed, within a few days of the grainy issue, is one of cross contamination of colours. A few days ago on the first print of the morning the image was coming out in nothing but cyan. Running all the cleaning functions several times didn't help. I examamind the cartridges to discover that the yellow cartridge had become filled with green ink! I couldn't really tell if the magenta cartridge had changed colour by much, probably the first time I'd really looked at them properly, but it seemed likely that it also had become contaminated by the cyan ink. I then changed all the colour cartridges for new ones, and after running the cleaner a few times it started printing the correct colours again, grainy issue still hadn't gone away though.

But, after a few days it has done it again, all blue prints! The yellow cartridge hasn't got green ink in it yet, but the sponge area is all green at the front.

Having read several posts here, the problem seems to be either, I'm just unlucky and managed to find two faulty cyan cartridges or more likely that the print head is buggered. Any light shed on these problems would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[digitalartist71]

i woonder if it possible for the CYAN color to be sucked up into the other carts via the nozzles when head is at rest overnight, if it is leaking enough? i am having this same prob with ip3000. new head also...so don;t hink it's the head but the cyan cart (generic cart).

 

[uranustarinkjet]

Perhaps the Cyan color was sucked up into other carts after printing a while.......... It is the technics and assembling process problem.

 

[Calculon]

Ok thanks, think I'll just try it with some better (or even, gulp, Canons own cartridges) and see what happens.

I at least have a woking printer now though, I was lucky enough to find a real bargain at my local Comet store. Was looking for a Canon IP4200, but noticed a 5200 going cheap at 50, ex demo machine. But, when I looked inside the print head locking arm had been broken off. When I brought this to there attention they said I could have it for 10! Took a bit of a risk, but not much for only 10. Anyway, got it home plugged it in and it produced a magnificent full a4 page photo. Done about 10 now each one perfect, even better than the ip4000 when it was working properly. Will see if I can get the 4000 working properly as a backup, just wish I new what caused it to happen and how to prevent it in the future.

 

[digitalartist71]

yeah... my cyan totally cross contaminated into the magenta and yellow.

took them all out and threw them away...put another brand in.... seems 'ok'. but who knows. when doing the test pattern... seems not to produce a very BLACK mix of CM & Y. instead...light brown..until i do yet ANOTHER cleaning...it clears upa dn black again. but have to continually keep doing this every time it sits.

wonder how exactly ro what exactly is causing the CYAN to cross contaminate into the others??? since black is black...doesn't seem to go into the Black pigment one?

 

[Calculon]

Well, my ip5200 is printing great, no real problems yet. I also just bought an ip4300 as a backup and to get a new set of cartridges, while I wait for some Hobbicolors refill ink to arrive. The ip4000 is still bugging me though. I took it to a local shop, Cartridge World (uk) who gave the printhead a steam clean (for 2). I changed all the cartridges again and after running several nozzle checks and cleans it started printing ok again, right colours but the grainy quality was still there which Id be happy to live with. But again next morning, it wasnt printing any magenta and on the nozzle check the lettering on the left had side had a green tinge to it.

Decided to give it a bath, read a few posts about washing it out under hot tap water, so nothing to loose I thought and give it a go. As expected lots of ink came out. Dried it off and put it back in. Again, several nozzle checks and clean cycles later it seemed to be printing ok again, apart from the grainy look. But next morning another problem presented itself, the colours seemed ok, but now it wasnt printing any dark black areas. A nozzle check confirmed that for the PGBK and BK nozzles the bottom half of each was not being printed! So, thats the way it stands currently, tried printing lots of black stripey patterns and more nozzle check cleans but still no change.

Can anyone shed light on this problem and say whether the printhead is just capput.

Many thanks

 

[AlienSteve]

Changing cartridges is just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

Most likely one of two sources of this problem:

1. The park pad is full of gunk. Either dust and hair have built up on it, or for some reason the peristaltic vacuum pump under it is not working. Do you have pets? Especially cats? Any bit of hair or anything across the nozzles will cause ink to wick out.

2. The print head has failed. A seal between cyan and yellow has opened slightly. I've seen a few Canon heads go bad this way, exactly as you described, the yellow cartridge slowly turns green. The fix is to replace the head.

Clean everything first, see if the problem continues. See the links in my signature for cleaning Canon printers.