Canon IP4300 - Blocked Heads?

[cliffg]

My Canon IP4300 has just developed a problem printing black (BK) and Magenta.
I have tried to run the deep cleaning process about 4 times, but cannot clear the fault, in fact it looks worse now.
The problem has occurred before, but cleaning has worked OK.

Should I follow one of the head cleaning routines documented on this site?

Cliff

 

[embguy]

You need to check the purge system operation first. If the purge system is not working, no amount of cleaning or deep cleaning will fix your problem. During cleaning, the purge system sucks ink out of ink cartridges through the nozzles. If the purge system is not working, the cleaning is not carried out because no ink is going through the nozzles.

1. Open the cover.
2. Flood the purge system pads with Windex. These pads are located on the right hand side of your printer. It is where the printhead parks when idle. There are two of them. The left one is for the pigment black. The right one is for the color.
3. Close the cover.
4. Wait a minute and open the cover.
5. Is the Windex still on the purge pads? If yes, your purge system is not working. Report the result and wait for next instructions.

 

[cliffg]

Thanks.
Not sure what Windex is (as I am in the UK) Is it ammonia window cleaner?
If so I will have to get soemthing similar. The only thinhg I have is white vinegar
There does seem a lot of ink in the area of these pads.
Is the ink supposed to drain from these?

Cliff

 

[embguy]

Yes, Windex is a ammonia window cleaner. But the testing, you can use water.

Yes, the ink is supposed to be drain down to the waste ink pad at the bottom of the printer.

 

[cliffg]

I have tried flooding the purge pads and they clear without any problem.

 

[leo8088]

Your black, c, m, and y all look like clogged. The safest way to unclog is to use cleaning ink cartridges. You can use purged empty OEM cartridges filled with Windex, plugged in and set the printer aside for a day or two. Ammonia in the Windex will escape over time. You should empty and refill the cleaning cartridges a few times. I had good luck using this method a few times but the same method also failed a few other times as well. If this does not work you will need to soak the print head outside the printer which is a little more risky. Some people said their print heads died after soaking. I have soaked print heads without problems. The risk is true so do it carefully.

 

[cliffg]

Thanks for your help. I will try the first method first and see how I get on.

 

[chirantha7777]

hmm.... I think the ink tanks have a flow issue hmm.......

 

[ghwellsjr]

The equivalent product in the UK for Windex is Halfords glass cleaner.

The pigment black in the wide cartridge is working perfectly.

The dye inks all have some minor problems but the photo cyan and photo magenta (the lower of each pair) seem to have a major problem because they are practically invisible.

I would suggest that you put some glass cleaner (using a syringe, eye dropper or bent straw) on the purge pads and also remove the cyan and magenta cartridges so you can put a couple drops on the inlet screen and the replace the cartridges and do a cleaning cycle followed by a nozzle check. Repeat this several times to see if there is any improvement in the nozzle check for these colors.

If you remove the print head to clean it, make sure you let it dry thoroughly before returning it to your printer by setting it in a warm place for a couple days. Otherwise you run the risk of burning out your print head and your printer.

 

[headphonesman]

In addition to ghwells excellent advice above...............It cannot be stressed enough that patience over a period of a few days in reapeating the above steps very often pays dividends.

Recently I had a PG5 stop printing entirely...........after a few hours of some of the above I managed to get half the PG5 nozzle check to print albeit patchily.....but .cut off was so sharp between the top half and lower half of the PG5 graph , it looked as tho half the nozzles had failed electrically............I had a 1 spare head....but elected to do persistent cleaning for a few days using Maintenence normal clean , deep clean, soaking head overnight in a shallow puddle.... then repeating all the other steps above..................after 2 days I started to get a patchy complete graph......therefore some nozzles had been resurrected.............after another day the PG5 was (and still is) printing with no misses.

The only cost is of lost ink..........but if you keep a set of carts which are filled with the windex or similar and use them in your cleans till they print ok..(as far as I know it doesnt harm the head).....then re-install the proper carts.......its better than having to buy a new head, you have nothing to lose!

Patience is a virtue (and a necessity where re-filling is concerned !)