No VM or C chanels printing on my Epson 4900

InkjetMall Customer Support Printer Maintenance & Cartridges
1

This past august I loaded bulk jon cone carts with piezio flush and flushed the lines… after being away for more than 2 months, drained the lines then charged the inks, there is absolutely nothing coming out of the vm or c lines they are completely blank on the nozel check…all ink channels were working when I loaded piezo flush in August? vent plugs are out of all carts…any suggestions here.

thanks,

Ed

2

Hi Ed~

After reviewing your order history, I see you purchased the set of 4900 refillable carts with ConeColor ink in May 2012, have purchased additional ink bottles since then, and got another set of carts with PiezoFlush in Aug 2013.
Did you print a nozzle check after flushing ink and installing PiezoFlush last August to confirm all positions were fully printing pink?
Did you print a nozzle check with PiezoFlush still installed, before recently reinstalling the ink carts?
How did you recharge the printer with inks, did you run an Initial Fill Cycle using the Adjustment Program, print purge sheets thru QTR calibration mode, or ??
Please open the printer’s top cover and examine the length of ink lines inside, are they all filled with ink, or do you see pink Piezo Flush or blank air gaps in any lines?
Did you make sure the exit channels were primed with ink, and cartridges were shaken before removing the air vent plugs and reinstalling into the printer?
Have any parts been replaced in this printer over the past three years, such as the capping station, pump, wiper blade, ink selector unit (dampers) or print head? If so, what parts and how long ago?

Please let me know so I can try to help you past this and back to happily printing.
Best~ Dana

3

Dana, thanks so much for your response questions and answers below:

question; Did you print a nozzle check after flushing ink and installing PiezoFlush last August to confirm all positions were fully printing pink? Answer: No I did not do this, but I had made prints just before installing piezio flush and the prints were fine.
Question: Did you print a nozzle check with PiezoFlush still installed, before recently reinstalling the ink carts? answer: No I didi not.
Question:How did you recharge the printer with inks? Answer: I ran an Initial Fill Cycle using the Adjustment Program
Question: do I see air bubbles/gaps or pink piezio flush in the lines. answer: no, at least nothing obvious
Question:Did you make sure the exit channels were primed with ink, and cartridges were shaken before removing the air vent plugs and reinstalling into the printer? No, I have I have always left the air vent plugs off when storing the carts.
Question: Have any parts been replaced in this printer over the past three years, such as the capping station, pump, wiper blade, ink selector unit (dampers) or print head? If so, what parts and how long ago? Answer: no parts have been replaced on the printer.

Cheers,

Ed

4

Hi Ed~

Thanks for the additional information.

It’s important to print a nozzle check after flushing a printer to make sure 1. all channels are printing pink (ink is all flushed) and 2. all nozzles are printing, and is also good to print a nozzle check after the printer has sat unused for a while, before reinstalling ink. We have flushing instructions here: http://www.inkjetmall.com/tech/content.php?140-Flushing-Epson-Pro-and-desktop-model-printers-for-safe-long-term-storage-or-when-switching-inks

Did you shake the ink carts and make sure exit channels were filled with ink before reinstalling ink carts into your printer?
Do the lines appear light pink with PiezoFlush, or dark color with ink?
Have you done any C/VM paired regular or power clean cycles?

Since you didn’t print a nozzle check after flushing the printer, or before reinstalling the inks, it’s hard to tell when the C + VM channels stopped printing. The C + VM are paired in the print head, so share a damper and capping station. It could be that the damper needs to be replaced (all dampers should be replaced at the same time), or possibly the capping station didn’t seal or suck those channels well.

It’s also important to seal vent holes when storing carts out of the printer, to prevent evaporation or stuff from getting inside.

Please let me know, thanks~ Dana

5

I did shake the carts but did not check the exit channels…I have done 8 extreme power clean cycles for the C/VM channels…I am seeing ink in the lines

6

It’s very hard to tell where/when this issue began, since nozzle checks weren’t done after flushing the printer, or before reinstalling ink… It’s not good to do multiple power clean cycles back to back- you can burn out the print head.