Epson WF-7610 air in printhead - fix?

[Diagramist]

Hello everyone,

I have an Epson Workforce WF-7610 that was developing streaks in colored printouts. Black was coming out okay in the nozzle check.

I bought one of the kits with the fluid and syringe, and injected fluid into all four ports. (Yes, I know, if it ain't broke....). Now, nothing prints on black. I'm guessing air is in the black print head.

I tried injecting a little more fluid into the black port, reinserting the cartridge, and 3 head cleaning cycles. That didn't work. Then I tried putting in a fresh black cart. That didn't work either.

Can someone offer some suggestions to help me resolve the problem? Thanks.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

what type of inks/cartridges are you using - refill/3rd party/original ? Did the problem show up suddenly - e.g. after replacing a cartridge ? when you do a cleaning cycle and a nozzle check - do the missing nozzles remain the same from nozzle check to nozzle check or do they change ? Could you please scan and upload a nozzle check here - please crop to the nozzle check print only.

 

[Diagramist]

what type of inks/cartridges are you using - refill/3rd party/original ? Did the problem show up suddenly - e.g. after replacing a cartridge ? when you do a cleaning cycle and a nozzle check - do the missing nozzles remain the same from nozzle check to nozzle check or do they change ? Could you please scan and upload a nozzle check here - please crop to the nozzle check print only.

Hello,

Thanks for help! Here's the info you requested.

what type of inks/cartridges are you using - refill/3rd party/original ?

Original Epson cartridges

Did the problem show up suddenly - e.g. after replacing a cartridge ?

It showed up after I used a printer cleaning kit - with a hose and syringe - to flush cleaning fluid through the print head.

when you do a cleaning cycle and a nozzle check - do the missing nozzles remain the same from nozzle check to nozzle check or do they change ?

Remains the same

Could you please scan and upload a nozzle check here - please crop to the nozzle check print only.

I'll attempt to attach one here. Note that the black cart is completely missing.

Thanks for any advice you can provide!

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

You did already most of the typical actions in such situation. If missing nozzles don't move it's most likely not air or a limited ink flow. When using a syringe with the cleaning fluid the first action should be a pulling action , the nozzles are the narrowest sections in the ink flow and pushing any gel-like substances that way may make it more difficult to clear the path. When placing a piece of kitchen paper underneath the printhead you should see whether any cleaning fluid would make its way through the nozzles with such a push/pull action. You may try the WicReset utility which offers not just the head cleaning function but a 'Ink Charge' as well, not for all Epson printers so I don't know whether it's available for your printer; this is a longer running cleaning function which may get expensive with genuine Epson carts and inks. Give it another try, but I don't see really another trick or method at this point.

 

[Diagramist]

When using a syringe with the cleaning fluid the first action should be a pulling action , the nozzles are the narrowest sections in the ink flow and pushing any gel-like substances that way may make it more difficult to clear the path.

That advice wasn't in the instructional video that came with the cleaning kit; nice to know that when it's too late!

Do you recommend trying again with the syringe, doing a push-pull this time? Before WicReset, that is. (It looks like WicReset supports this printer).

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

try it again, cautiously as a kind of last attempt, WicReset would not do any harm but just spoil some ink.

 

[Diagramist]

I tried a push-pull with the syringe on the black head. Quite a bit of solvent (mixed with black ink) went through the head to the blotter paper underneath.

 

[Diagramist]

After a push-pull on black, I reinserted the print cartridge and did about 4 head cleanings. This is what the nozzle check currently looks like. The fourth cleaning didn't help out the black much, if at all.

I haven't tried the WicReset utility yet. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. And I am grateful for your assistance.

 

[turbguy]

Since we have had a recent report of a purge system issue with an Epson printer, you might try flooding the purge pads (the station where the printhead parks) with Original Windex to see if you can establish a standing "puddle" on the pads, put the printer through a cleaning cycle, and see if the flooding disappears from the pads after the cleaning. Then try a nozzle check and report your results...

1. Were you able to build up a standing "puddle" on the pads that lasted a minute?
2. If so, did the "puddle" disappear after a cleaning cycle?
3. Post an image of the resulting nozzle check.

BTW it appears your printhead is indeed firing black nozzles.

 

[Diagramist]

If I am not using an original Epson cartridge, it must be a counterfeit - I'm pulling the cartridge out of their packaging and it as an Epson logo.

After another two head cleanings, I got it to this point:

Which is not ideal, but it is at least functional for utility printing.

I have read elsewhere that it is not good to run the printer through multiple head cleanings successively. I haven't tried the deep cleaning cycle in WicReset yet, because I'm afraid of making it worse.