Canon Pixma iP4000 Print Head ?? Problem

[Clynt]

My Canon iP4000 printer was turning out perfect prints. A couple of minutes after a print job, I tried to print again but the printer had stopped working and the flash code was (and still is) five amber flashes then one green flash indicating a problem with the print head. There was no onset of blurry printing; it went from perfect prints to nothing. (If the lid over the ink tanks is opened, even minutely, the flash code changes to continuous green flashes. If the print head is taken out and the lid is closed, there is a steady green light.) I've since done all the things recommended in the manual (cleaned the print head electric contacts, switched on and switched off, disconnected and reconnected the USB cable, etc). I've also reinstalled the printer driver (for Vista 32 bit), I've soaked the print head in water for a few days and under flowing hot water several times. I've even cleaned out the waste ink tank and sqeezed-out the felt pads (what a messy job that is ! ! ). All to no avail.

I was thinking of buying a new print head but I read somewhere on the net someone with the same problem replaced his print head and it didn't fix his problem. Somewhere else on the net I read that the printer flash codes are notoriously inaccurate so if I bought a new print head I may be stuck with it AND a faulty printer. Also it may not be economically viable to buy a new print head given the age of this printer BUT the Canon iP4000 is, and is recognised as, a good printer.

What I need to do is put another print head in my printer and see if it fixes my problem (if it doesn't, it's probably an electronic fault elsewhere in the printer and would cost more to fix than the printer is worth. BUT, I've got a couple of sets of unused ink tanks for this printer which are worth, in toto, more than the printer itself and I'd hate to waste them. Possibly I could buy a second hand iP4000 to use these ink tanks in (they also fit the iP3000 and a couple of others).

Does anyone know if there is a printer repairer in Sydney, Australia with a print head I could test my printer with or who has a pile of old iP4000 printers?

Thanks, Clynt

 

[ghwellsjr]

You should be able to find an authorized service center here.

If they are like the one in my area, they will give you an estimate to fix your printer for a minimal fee. If the estimate is too high, they will not charge you the fee for the estimate if you let them recycle the printer.

One word of warning about swapping your print head into another printer or swapping another print head into your printer: the problem can cause both your print head and printer to be defective and to damage any other print head or printer that you perform swapping with. You don't want to do any swapping with a friend's printer/print head only to find that his printer no longer works. The safest thing to do is let an authorized repair center deal with it but they will probably want a very high price to repair.

 

[headphonesman]

One word of warning about swapping your print head into another printer or swapping another print head into your printer: the problem can cause both your print head and printer to be defective and to damage any other print head or printer that you perform swapping with. You don't want to do any swapping with a friend's printer/print head only to find that his printer no longer works.

ALL TAKE NOTE.!!!! THIS IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE . I have ruined 2 , perfectly good , previously unused , printers this way . Where a printer "dies" of uncertain causes , the head accompanies it to its grave !

 

[Clynt]

Thanks folks for the warning ! ! I've found a repairer not too far away. Clynt

 

[Clynt]

Thanks ghwellsjr and headphonesman, I took my iP4000 to a Canon service centre where they confirmed my printhead was defunct as evidenced by black ink having migrated into the coloured ink tanks. A new printhead would have cost $133. They sold me a second-hand Canon Pixma MP760 for $50 with no guarantees. It works fine and takes the same ink tanks as the iP4000 so hopefully I'll at least be able to use up my stock of ink tanks from the old printer and perhaps get some life out of it beyond that. Clynt

 

[ghwellsjr]

I think you will like the MP760--that's my main printer and you got a great deal. I think the cost of the print head probably included a risk factor that they were taking to try a new print head because they normally cost only $50.

Did they let you keep your iP4000?

 

[Clynt]

Yes ghwellsjr, they didn't want the iP4000. The technician just looked at the print head and declared it defunct on the basis of the black ink migrating to the coloured ink tanks (despite it being spotless and shiney from my attemps to clean it by soaking overnight and under the hot water tap). I wasn't charged for that. So now I've got (as well as the iP4000) an iP4300, an MP760 and an MP640, the latter which I recently bought new to replace the iP4000 but then I looked at the couple of sets of ink tanks I had on hand which I couldn't use so I tried to get the iP4000 going. When you asked if they let me keep the iP4000, what do you suggest I do with it? I was going to junk it; but I'm an old guy (and a hoarder) from the era when we didn't throw away such slightly defective machines. Clynt (in Sydney, Australia)

 

[embguy]

...The technician just looked at the print head and declared it defunct on the basis of the black ink migrating to the coloured ink tanks (despite it being spotless and shiney from my attemps to clean it by soaking overnight and under the hot water tap).

Sometime, cross-contamination of one color to other colors is due to the cartridge problem. The dye black (small) cartridge is using the same purge pad as the other color cartridges. If the dye black cartridge is leaking very slowly, over time, the dye black will be on the purge pad and migrate up the nozzles of the other color.

It happened to my i550. The magenta ink contaminated the yellow. After I changed the magenta cartridge, everything was back to normal.

It works fine and takes the same ink tanks as the iP4000 so hopefully I'll at least be able to use up my stock of ink tanks from the old printer and perhaps get some life out of it beyond that.

If you are using the dye black from the iP4000 on your newly acquired MP760, is there any black cross-contamination?

 

[Clynt]

But would this cross-leakage cause my five amber flash problem? The 6BK tank did appear to contain less ink than might be expected from its age; so there might be a leakage problem (it's a generic tank; not a Canon). I'm not going to put any of the tanks remaining in the iP4000 into my "new" MP7460 which came with a full set of Canon ink tanks already installed. The technician dit a print test and a scan on the MP760; they look great. Clynt

 

[ghwellsjr]

You got an MP760 for $50 and it had a full set of Canon cartridges? That's phenomenal.

I would keep the iP4000. It's possible that the only problem with it is the print head. I normally keep all my parts and I have some print heads that have burned out nozzles which I use on questionable printers. Some day you might be able to pick up another printer that has burned out nozzles for dirt cheap and then you can use it to test this printer or maybe your "new" printer may develop a problem with the print head requiring you to buy a new one and then you could use the old one to test your iP4000.

But your cross contamination is something new. What exactly happened there? This cannot be related to your flashing lights. The printer normally doesn't monitor any ink output and has no way of knowing if there is cross contamination.