Canon MP990 printing light on all color

[poloce]

Hi all

I have been using refill ink for my MP990 and it has been over 1 year without any problem.

I discover my printer printing all colors lighter than usually, especially PGB, it looks like gray instead of black.

I have follow the Windex instruction to check purge function and it checked out.
I have use the nozzle check function and all color came out except the PGB is especially light, and I think the other colors may be light too. (PS: all color came out, light but no white line)

Does this means my cartridge is old and needs to be replace or my nozzle is bad and not firing enough ink as it should be?

Please help

Thank you so much.

 

[The Hat]

poloce
Your problem could be any one of several things causing your light inks.
You never said what type of cartridges you were using Compatible or OEM,
or the quality of your inks, or the filling method you use.

It always helps to give as much details about your set-up as well as your problem so the help you get is as near correct as possible.
One thing you could try would be to clean out your cartridges dry them and refill and see if that corrects your problem first,
but in the mean time please come back with some more details..

 

[poloce]

I uses OEM cartridge with refill inks inject form top of the resovior, I amn not sure about the ink quality since when I bought the printer there are not many vender sells gray ink, so far it has not clog the nozzle and working fine until yesterday the color becomes light.

How do you clean out OEM cartidges?

 

[The Hat]

poloce I uses OEM cartridge with refill inks inject form top of the resovior, I amn not sure about the ink quality
since when I bought the printer there are not many vender sells gray ink,
so far it has not clog the nozzle and working fine until yesterday the color becomes light.

How do you clean out OEM cartidges?

One of the best ways to purge your cartridges is to remove the top plug, turn it upside down
and let water slowly dribble onto the outlet sponge and most of the ink will get washed out through the top refill hole.

It would help to inject some water into the reservoir first and blow on the refill hole
to get most of the ink out of the sponge that way before using the method described above.


The larger pigment ink cartridge may not look clean because the sponge tends to stay darker in colour
but if the water is clear then its completely clean.

You can dry your cartridges using the ghwellsjrs method shown here
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=34175#p34175 and then refill them.

Can I ask why you need to buy grey ink for your printer?

 

[poloce]

hi, thanks for the tip, but I am trying to avoid purging the cartridge if I can.
I ordered a new OEM black cartidge and going to give that a shot, and see if that solve the problem.

I need grey ink because my printer has a grey ink cartridge.

My question is, does pruging cartridge=a new cartridge? Reasn is, it might not worth the effort to waste all the existing ink and the effort compare to buy one for 13 dollars.

Also, how likely is the nozzle electronic problem compre to the cartridge? It feels like it's more likely to be the nozzle since all colors seems to be comming out light, not just one color, but that could me my eyes playing trick on me.

 

[The Hat]

poloce
I forgot that your printer had six cartridges and not five my mistake ops.
What brand of ink are you using and where did you buy it from.

My question is, does pruging cartridge=a new cartridge?

If you purge a cartridge of its ink and let it dry, effectly yes you now have a new cartridge.

If you remove all the cartridges from the printer and turn them upside down
you could try putting a couple of drops of Windex on the ink inlet of each of the cartridges
and then do the same with the inlets on the print head then put all the cartridges back in to the printer.

Run a head clean cycle and then a nozzle check and see if theres any change in the printout.
Do that a couple of times and check for any improvement in the quality each time and report back the results please..

 

[poloce]

ok, will try the windex on the cartridge,
ps: I already rince the nozzle with hot water until no ink and no good result, but will try windex this time.

The brand of ink was an off-brand call "ultragamut"

I remember I had an old canon ip5200 black cartridge also went gray and replacing with new one helps. From what you are saying, the sponge never goes "bad"?? all it needs is a good cleaning? Also, if I decide to use the german method, how will I be able to purge ink in the future?

thanks for all the help btw

 

[The Hat]

poloce ps: I already rince the nozzle with hot water until no ink and no good result, but will try windex this time

I hope when you rinsed your print head with water that you allowed it to dry properly before you put it back in the printer, otherwise its new print head time.

The brand of ink was an off-brand call "ultragamut"

I would strongly recommend you change your ink supplier and go for one of these.
Inkjetcarts.us or precisioncolors.com as they will have the inks you require.

If you wish to use the German method for future filling then you can always unblock the original refill hole
in the top of the cartridge if you ever need to purge you cartridge again..

 

[poloce]

thanks for the tip on the right vender, I know the one I am using is bad, but when I bought my mp990 it was so new no one has gray ink except them.

when I rinse my print head, I use air compressor to dry the whole thing before I put it back in. Didn't help a bit, and didn't make anything worst during process, so I guess I did not break anything.

I done the windex trick with the cartridge, and no luck.

 

[poloce]

after about 6 deep clean and nozzle check, my black now looks lighter than yesterday...... this is after I put a few drops of windex in cartridge and nozzle