Canon IP5000 Nozzle check pattern

[Barb]

My Canon printer has just come out of the years warranty period so I have started to go over to generic inks. So far I have only replaced the cyan and yellow with generic inks. I have now got a problem so have done several cleans, deep cleans and performed nozzle checks.

When I do the nozzle check all the colours look O.K. except the 3e Bk does not appear at all on this printout as shown on the maintenance programme. Should I be seeing it?

When I print a picture on photo quality inkjet paper everything looks fine but when printing the same pic on plain paper the very dark grey to black areas are showing white. I have not had any warning that the large 3e Bk black ink is running out as yet. I have still got a Canon replacement to use for this, when necessary. Can I check somehow if there is ink still in the cartridge?

Help appreciated

Barb

P.S. Location is OZ

 

[fotofreek]

Barb - I answered your posts on the printer newsgroup - my name is Burt. You can take the bci-3ebk cart out of the printer and look at it. There are two chambers. One has sponge in it and the other is a reservoir. You can see if there is any ink left in the reservoir. If that side is empty, replace it and see what happens. If it has run dry and you kept printing you will have run the risk of burning out the nozzles that print from that cart. The ink monitors on Canons are very poor. They show that a new cart is full and then guess til the reservoir is empty at which time they show the ink as low and then start a kind of countdown to when they guess the cart is empty. You never actually print until it is empty as there should be a bit of ink remaining in the sponge area as a safety measure to avoid burning out the printhead. The ink acts as a coolant when going through the nozzles. If there is still ink in the cart it is possible that it is not feeding properly. Try your backup cart. When you install it run one light cleaning to prime that nozzle. On this printer I think that you can clean just the bci-3ebk nozzle. If it doesn't work, call Canon and push them. I know that in the US they will sometimes stretch a bit on replacing a printhead if you are just over the warranty period. Otherwise, you can go to the top of this forum page, click on FAQ, and read the first one to get hints on cleaning the printhead. Since all the other jets are working you should first try to clear just the bci-3ebk portion of the head.

 

[ghwellsjr]

When you get to the thread that fotofreek mentions, make sure you read the post by Correzpond in which he quotes sequio quoting panos. It's currently at 45, but if Rob, our Administrator manages to reinstate the missing posts by panos, it could slip down to a much larger number.

You don't want to miss the reference to the 'magic of ammonia' in cleaning print heads at http://www.outofinkandtoner.com.au/articles/article37.htm

[NOTE: I have learned my lesson about using ammonia. I now use just Windex (with ammonia). Read the following link for more information:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1396
]

 

[Barb]

Thanks Burt and GS. Glad to report I did as you suggested and the reservoir was completely dry so replaced it did the small clean and all seems to be working O.K. fingers crossed.

Thanks for your help and for pointing me to this forum which I would never have thought of looking for.

Barb