Hi! Canon ip4000 not printing...

[itsallgood]

Hi all!!

I've been searching this forum for ages! It's great! Loads of good advice - so i thought i'd join


My canon ip4000 isnt working

I needed to replace my printhead - as i was getting error flashing "beebs" -- and i looked it up in the service guide, and it said it needed a new print head.

So i got a new print head -- and replaced all the inks, so they are all new and wet --but now the printer will not print at all.


There are no error codes - the printer is making the motions, but no ink is going on the page. A build up of ink keeps appearing on the bottom of the printhead - so i have to take it out and wipe it all off.

Also, i've just spotted a little yellowly/white sponge -- and its soaked in ink (it's on the left hand side of the printer, inside) - there is also a little bit of clear plastic over the sponge, and that is also covered in ink.


Can anyone offer me some advice on what to do???

I've tried using all the printer functions -- cleaning, deep cleaning, etc -- but they do nothing except build up ink on the print head.

It's also impossible to carry out a printhead allignment -- as it just complains about the paper being wrong -- when its totally fine.


Thanks for any help!

Looking forward to replies

Cheers.

 

[ghwellsjr]

That little bit of clear plastic over the sponge on the left side of the printer acts like a chute to direct excess ink down to the waste ink pad at the bottom of the printer. The drain on it appears to be clogged. Take a paper towel and blot up as much ink as you can and then deposit some Windex with ammonia (or equivalent) on the plastic chute to see if you can get the path open again. You may have to repeat many times and let it sit overnight.

WARNING: be very careful of the thin plastic strip going along the back side of the print head from one side of the printer to the other. You don't want to get any ink on it or otherwise damage it.

You could do a little test to see if clearing this will make your printer work again. After blotting away the excess ink, see if your printer will work. But this will only be temporary so don't avoid getting the drain unclogged.

 

[ocular]

Has the printer had a lot of use. Could be a blocked purge unit. The tips of the purge tubes feed onto absorption pads on the base of the printer. With a lot of use a thick ink residue can build up and block the tubes.

 

[itsallgood]

Thanks guys -- i've had a look, but cannot really find a more in depth guide to cleaning clogged ink pads, or a purge unit.

Is this info explained in the service guide under other headings?

Anyway, thanks so much for the help!

I'm going to try it now.

 

[embguy]

Read the second post on this thread on how to clean the purge unit --> http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1993

 

[ghwellsjr]

We're not talking here about the purge unit which is on the rigth side of the printer, we're talking about a drain port on the left side of the printer. There is no pump on the left side. I don't know the best way to clean the drain but the ways to clean the purge unit will have no bearing on the drain port.

 

[Ron350]

Itsallgood
Any progress on the iP4000 not printing?

 

[itsallgood]

Just got to say thanks again for the help here guys -- i havent had time to buy any windex yet, so havent had a go at the repair.

But i will tomorrow! And i'll post back how it goes

Cheers.

 

[itsallgood]

Hello again,

I'm having no luck at all with this printer.

I have cleaned it all -- with cleaner, ink is going through the print head fine - it's just not going on the paper. It's just collecting on the bottom of the print head.

I put in a cleanning cartridge -- did a deep clean all the way through that - so it emptied it.

Put black 3eBK back in -- and still no good. No Ink goes on the paper. (All the colours, including 6BK work fine - Just not 3eBK)

Does anyone have any other ideas??


So what i've tried:

** New Print Head.
** Cleaned the purge unit / insides of the printer.
** Deep Cleanned all the way through a cleaning cartridge.


Please help!

 

[ghwellsjr]

So let's see if we have a correct understanding of the printer's current situation with the new print head:

You have cleaned the drain port on the left side of the printer so that it no longer pools ink, correct?

If you do a nozzle check, you do not see the black grid lines for the 3eBK ink but all six of the patterns below that work, correct?

If you tell your printer that you are printing on matte paper (even if you are printing on plain paper), it prints just fine in both black text and full color images, correct?

You have gotten the dye inks to work (they are the thinner cartridges), correct?