Canon MP760 colour problems following cartridge change.

[Steve]

Has anyone else experienced this problem?

I repeatedly find that when I change any of the ink cartridges in my
Canon MP760, that after the change, I get colour issues.

The symptoms aren't always consistent, but when running the "Nozzle
Check" following a cartridge change I find that sometimes for example,
the magenta and cyan strips all print different shades of cyan or all
the strips have a yellow bar running down the centre. None of the
individual nozzles appear to be blocked.

The only cure appears to be to remove and replace the cartridges and
reseat the print head a few times, running a head clean each time. The
process can be quite time consuming and wastes a huge amount of ink and
paper.

I assume the issue is related to the cartridges or print head being out
of alignment after I change one of the cartridges, but everything
appears to click in to position and I can't pin down the cause.

Any ideas gratefully received as I otherwise love the device.

Thanks,

Steve.

 

[Burt]

Has anyone else experienced this problem?

I repeatedly find that when I change any of the ink cartridges in my
Canon MP760, that after the change, I get colour issues.

The symptoms aren't always consistent, but when running the "Nozzle
Check" following a cartridge change I find that sometimes for example,
the magenta and cyan strips all print different shades of cyan or all
the strips have a yellow bar running down the centre. None of the
individual nozzles appear to be blocked.

The only cure appears to be to remove and replace the cartridges and
reseat the print head a few times, running a head clean each time. The
process can be quite time consuming and wastes a huge amount of ink and
paper.

I assume the issue is related to the cartridges or print head being out
of alignment after I change one of the cartridges, but everything
appears to click in to position and I can't pin down the cause.

Any ideas gratefully received as I otherwise love the device.

Thanks,

Steve.

Steve - sometimes ink carts don't feed well. The cleaning routine pulls ink
out of the cart and through the mozzles with a small vacuum pump. This
primes the nozzles for subsequent printing. Some prefilled compatable carts
are not the best quality and do this. There have also been a few posted
results of OEM Canon carts not feeding well. After prefilling a cart
several times it will not feed well. If you don't remove the tape at the
end of an OEM cart you don't open the air vent and it won't print well or at
all. If you aren't fairly quick in replacing a cart the ink pickup in the
head gets dried out. Lots of reasons for this sort of problem. Removing
and replacing carts shouldn't change the head alignment.

 

[Michael Johnson, PE]

Has anyone else experienced this problem?

I repeatedly find that when I change any of the ink cartridges in my
Canon MP760, that after the change, I get colour issues.

The symptoms aren't always consistent, but when running the "Nozzle
Check" following a cartridge change I find that sometimes for example,
the magenta and cyan strips all print different shades of cyan or all
the strips have a yellow bar running down the centre. None of the
individual nozzles appear to be blocked.

The only cure appears to be to remove and replace the cartridges and
reseat the print head a few times, running a head clean each time. The
process can be quite time consuming and wastes a huge amount of ink and
paper.

I assume the issue is related to the cartridges or print head being out
of alignment after I change one of the cartridges, but everything
appears to click in to position and I can't pin down the cause.

Any ideas gratefully received as I otherwise love the device.

I was getting a problem with the cyan nozzles on my MP780 (same print
engine as the MP760) recently. I have printed thousands upon thousands
of items with it and thought that maybe the print head was finally going
bad. I decided to do a poor man's, or lazy man's, print head cleaning.

I took out the cartridges and print head and then took a can of
compressed air and while holding the print head in a paper towel I blew
air through all the ink intake ports which forced out most of the ink in
the heads out through the nozzles (make sure to use a paper towel or you
will have a mess on your hands). Then I took the head to the sink and
thoroughly rinsed it with plain old tap water. I ran the water directly
into the ink intake ports and quit when no more ink would seep through
the nozzles.

Once it looked like all the ink was expelled I took the can of
compressed air and while holding the head in a paper towel I once again
thoroughly blew air through the ink intake ports until little water
would come out the nozzles. I then wiped the head and assembly dry and
reinstalled it into the printer with the ink cartridges. I wiped the
openings of the cartridges before installing them too.

I then printed a couple of full sized photographs on plain paper and a
few black text only sheets (to purge the BCI-3eBk cartridge nozzles) to
clear out any remaining water in all the nozzles. The printer has
worked flawlessly ever since. If you try this I recommend printing
immediately after purging to prevent the tap water left in the head from
evaporating. This might help to prevent any minerals in the water from
forming in the head during evaporation. I plan to do this same
technique if I ever have a problem again. The first problem took almost
two years of heavy use to develop so it should be awhile before another
purge is needed.

 

[Steve]

Steve - sometimes ink carts don't feed well. The cleaning routine pulls ink
out of the cart and through the mozzles with a small vacuum pump. This
primes the nozzles for subsequent printing. Some prefilled compatable carts
are not the best quality and do this. There have also been a few posted
results of OEM Canon carts not feeding well. After prefilling a cart
several times it will not feed well. If you don't remove the tape at the
end of an OEM cart you don't open the air vent and it won't print well or at
all. If you aren't fairly quick in replacing a cart the ink pickup in the
head gets dried out. Lots of reasons for this sort of problem. Removing
and replacing carts shouldn't change the head alignment.

Thanks for your comments Burt. I'm not convinced however, that it's an
ink feed problem as :

a) Why does the nozzle check print different colours - I would expect
gaps or faint colours if it were just a feed problem?

b) The nozzle check problems are not always related to the colour of
the cartridge I replaced.

c) I replace the cartridge within a few seconds, so I don't think the
head is drying out.

I will however take you comments in to account next time I replace a
cartridge and see it I am doing anything wrong.

Thanks again,

Steve.