epson 3800 printer - no photo black printing

[genecampbell]

I have a epson 3800 printer. It will not print photo black on the nozzle check. Did a couple cleaning cycles and it printed photo black on nozzle check. I printed a pic and it printed fine. Then it stopped printing photo black again. Did nozze check and no photo black on nozzle check. Also when I change to matte black and then back to photo black I get black ink smears on nozzle check pattern...What is wrong?? thanks

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

That's probably a problem with the black ink switch, you may directly search for it, some people replace this switch; I don't know if Epson is still servicing this printer model since it is quite old already. You may contact a service company for that.

 

[pharmacist]

Try if you can print with matte black: if this is the case, you can print with matte paper settings and refill the matte black position with photo black. I had previous a cheap Epson Pro 3880 and the photo black setting was impossible: black in smearing and leaking on paper, but when I changed to matte black the problem solved: I swapped the photo black (refillable cartridge) into the matte black position and always print with matte paper setting on glossy photo papers. It is the valve switch that is stuck and sometimes the other channel still functions.