Canon IP4200 dying...time for new printhead??

[ryphoenix]

Hi all,

My ip4200 is dying on me. I've been using chipless cartridges from G&G that has worked fine for few sets of carts now. Few months ago the Cyan faded then died. Replaced it with new cart still no good. I've struggled on without cyan as I don't print color too often. Recently the PGI-5 started to fade too, which is not acceptable, so I started doing research and tried various ways of cleaning the printhead. Obviously multiple rounds of cleaning and deep cleaning didn't do anything.

I tried soaking with hot water, soaking with alcohol all night, soaked with ammonia based windex, dragged it across alcohol soaked tissue, and tried using as much water pressure as I can manage, which I admit isn't much. I don't have a good way of getting water pressure, but I've tried everything I've read on cleaning the printhead. After the first night of hours of work, where I kept getting cyan ink out, I tried printing. There was a slight trace of cyan, but basically no go.

I have a brand new set of CLI-8 OEM inks so I figure I'll go all in and try again. The 2nd night I spent another few hours, soaking wiping etc, and this time not much blue after the first hour, mostly magenta and black. After I REALLY thought it's clean this time, I installed the OEM CLI-8 with the G&G PGI-5, I finally got some light shades of cyan on the first line of nozzle check pattern, but it looks like the bad picture in the nozzle check, and nothing on the 2nd cyan line. The PGI-5 is probably worse now, but I think my Canon is just fed up with crap ink finally.

So my questions are:
Is this a typical printhead clog issue?
Is there anything else I can do?
Is replacing the printhead my last and only option, and would that, with reasonable confidence, fix my issue?

Thanks for any help or suggestions!!

 

[newfiewanabe]

Hi ryphonix,
Sounds like a print head issue. Replace it. The print head will cost around $100.00 more or less from Canon. If by chance it's still under warranty Canon will replace it free of charge. They are excellent to deal with. If possible buy another 4200 printer or two if you can find. Then you have printer, print head and a new set of cartridges. Another option is buy a ip3500, ip4500 or two if you can find then ,there are cheap and do a pretty fine job of printing. They sell for $30.00 to $50.00 with printer, print head and set of cartridges. Yes, the print head should fix the issue. THe PGI 5 issue could be the cartridge sponge clogging up if you are refilling.
Jim

 

[embguy]

ryphoenix,
Have you try this method to unclog the printhead?
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3777&p=1
Good luck.

 

[ryphoenix]

Thanks for the replies.

Well, I tried the method explained in here: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3960
I found out the PGI-5 was just not seated well, and is largely okay.
I HAVE managed to partially unclog the cyan, after much work. Now the first line of nozzle check pattern will print, although ugly with horizontal white lines interlaced. 2nd line is pretty much still non-existent. Printhead alignment does complete now at least.

Is it possible that the cyan is burnt or some such? How can I diagnose and pin point the problem better?

 

[embguy]

Is it possible that the cyan is burnt or some such? How can I diagnose and pin point the problem better?

Did you suck any liquid up through the cyan nozzles? If no, the cyan is still blocked.

Since you have tried Manuchau's method, use Ron350 method to check the cyan clog. http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3965
Put some water into the tube connecting to the cyan nozzles. Is the water slowly drain out the cyan nozzles? If not, you need to unclog it first before doing any nozzles check. Otherwise, you are wasting your time and do more harm to your printhead.

If it is blocked, try different method to unclog the printhead. http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3777&p=1

 

[ryphoenix]

Thanks again for the continued support embguy.

Ya I managed to suck and blow cyan colored water through the cyan nozzle. And as I said, it does print now, just still kinda ugly.

Just wondering now if there could be other issues...

 

[nanosec]

From what I understand when a canon print head dies sometimes, is because it's not heating the ink correctly in the print head.
I have a print head where I even dismantled it to unclog it, and it was obvious after doing so that it was a failure of the print head and not a run of the mill clog.

What i would advise is find all models that have the exact same print head as yours and search for them on Kijiji,Goodwill,Craigslist

 

[avolanche]

You can get a printhead on Ebay for $40-50 shipped (Genuine CANON Printhead QY6-0059 for ip4200 mp500 mp530).