Ink leaking from cartridge to cartridge?

[AdkGal]

My Canon Pixma iP4000 hadn't been used for a while. I ran a nozzle check and it was full of white lines. I had to run the deep clean many times before it straightened out. I printed about 4 small pictures just fine, and then everything afterwards was printing in cyan only. Huh? I ran the nozzle check again, and even where the magenta and yellow bars should have been, there was cyan ink!!!! (At least the white lines were gone, right? LOL!) I contacted Canon about this and they INSISTED that I needed a new print head. I just kept emailing them and telling them that it didn't sound like a bad print head to me. Then, I removed the carts and found that the cyan ink had gotten sucked up into the other cartridges! How does that happen? I again wrote to Canon and they said that it wasn't the print head afterall, and since I was 2 months out of warranty, I was SOL on them fixing it.

I have been using non OEM ink cartridges from abacus.com, and this has been my first problem with them. Do you think it's the cartridges causing the problem? Help! I cannot afford another printer. I took the print head out of the printer and ran distilled water through it to clean out the nozzles. I have new unused cartridges to put in the printer (also from abacus.com) but I don't know if I should try them and perhaps contaminate them with the cyan ink too. Does anyone have an idea what is going on, and if I can correct it?

 

[mikling]

Suspicion leads to cross color from perhaps a leak at the seal of the cartridges? Maybe these aftermarket cartridges are "leakers" due to incorrect sponge material, ink viscosity etc..... ?
It is also possible to have cross color occur thru the nozzle plate area but I don't know if that is the case.
Always keep a set of originals on hand to determine if you have a cartridge or printer issue. Therein lies the solution. Drop the Canons in, if the problem goes away. You know the problem. If it doesn't, you've eliminated one possibility.

 

[JeffR]

Hi, have experienced this type of problem with Canon i-series Printers of which I have 4 (i950 x 2, i990 & i9950). It occurs when Cartridge gets over saturated and starts contaminating other colours through the Print Head. Can be due to Cartridge not being well sealed (like when you forget to put the plug in a refillable) or when using printer continously ink tends to flow too freely through one colour. Have never experienced with original Canon Cartridges for whats that worth as I guess they run out too quickly and are too expensive to use for anymore than diagnostic purposes. Easily fixed by removing cartridges and cleaning Print Head either with tap water through plastic tube through jets or compressed air as per Neil Slade's approach. Have successfully restored refillable cartridges by using plastic tube to force water up through jet and then refill although generally just replace cartridge. BUT you will need to clean the Print Head to get rid of problem and should not recur with quality of non-OEM Cartridges around today. So yes have idea as to what is going on and it can certainly be correct. Of course I don't know how the Pixma IP's compare to the i-series. Let me know if you need anymore detailed info on cleaning Print Head

 

[AdkGal]

Thanks for your replies! I'm glad to see that both of you agree it seems to be a cartridge problem. I emailed abacus24-7.com and they got right back to me offering me a refund or new cartridges. I chose the cartridges due to the fact that ths is the first problem I have had with their product, and I've saved a bundle purchasing my ink through them.

I'll let you know what happens and thanks again for your help!
This is a great forum w/ great posters willing to help!

 

[Manuchau]

This is definiely a cartridge problem. There was a thread recently about this subject. I sell Canon printers and compatible cartridges, and have about a 10-15% retrn on the cyans..never the yellow or magenta. This was for G&G brand cartridges, made in China, and I'm guessing that they make the same ones as you are using, even if they are under a different name. This was supposed to have been taken care of, but the problem still persists. Just ask for a replacement cartridge - I'm sure abacus will help you., since this is a common problem

 

[digitalartist71]

yeah, since I have fixed my Pixma Ip3000, i was using my older S600 which was pretty dependable....but right before i fixed my ip3000, the CYAN seemed to be spreading to the Magenta and Yellow cartridges. All cartdriges are cheapies....but the printer sure did do a LOT of printing before this starting happening...so no big deal...when I get a chance, I am going to put genuine canon carts back in it to see if that fixes anything...but yes all prints are basically cyan and mixtures of the tainted colors...doens't seem to flow into the BLACK pigment cart....so not sure what is happening here...just assuming since there is heavy ink buildup at the nozzles at all times...that suction is drawing ink into the other carts.