Dried Out Lexmark Printer Cartridge

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chris Dobyns
  • Start date Start date
C

Chris Dobyns

I just completed a simple repair on my son's Lexmark Z53 printer,
where the paper feed mechanism appeared to be jammed and inoperable.
After a lengthy wait for the printer to make the trip back from
college, a simple disassemble discovered the errant Trident chewing
gum wrapper (Oops) in the paper feed chute. After reassemble, the
printer worked fine the first time out.

Now I went and refilled the black cartridge successfully, but now that
cartridge doesn't seem to want to work (at all). It was pretty well
drained, but the one picture output after the repair, showed that it
was working (black ink output) - at least a little. Tried the nozzle
cleaning, alignment and test print - without success. Color cartridge
side is working fine. Also tried the technique of soaking the
cartridge head briefly in steaming hot water, but still nothing. Have
to believe that the "electronics" on the cartridge are still operable,
since the printer interface diagnostic seems to "reading and
reporting" the cartridge as fully charged now. Would hate to toss out
the cartridge and invest in a new one, especially since I probably
just dumped almost $5 of black ink into it. Any other suggestions?

Thanks,
Chris
 
Just as a follow-up of the posting in search of a solution. Turned
out that the warm water soaking was the solution that was headed in
the right direction. The approach of just briefly soaking the
cartridge, just needed to be enhanced slightly - like to the tune of
soaking the cartridge head in water overnight. After some serious
soaking the nozzles cut loose and now the cartridge is printing fine.
Turned out that the color cartridge wasn't exactly flowing properly,
but a somewhat briefer "soak", also solved that problem. Just gives
credence to that old phrase of your mom's of, "oh, go soak your
head(s)". Always trust mom....

Thanks,
Chris
 
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