Solved: Bad nozzle check print entire left bank of inks on seldom used 9800

InkjetMall Customer Support Printer Maintenance & Cartridges
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Trying to eliminate some banding issues…not severe, but there. I have done cleanings, power cleanings, and even the windex soak thing, all of which seems to have helped, but oddly I cant get it to even start the left side nozzle check pattern. The right one prints like 5 times, and usually ends up fine, but not the left. It sometimes reports a “cleaning error” and other times not, but either way will not even begin those inks…I’m lost for ideas.

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Windex and other ammonia and/or alcohol cleaners can be great for cleaning, but are not good for the long-term health of your printer, especially the print head (which is one of the most important parts of your printer). For cleaning the bottom of the print head, it’s best to use our PiezoFlush solution, or even warm distilled water is pretty good at cleaning without harming the head. I believe using ammonia or alcohol cleaners on the capping station, flushing box and wiper blade is probably ok, but I personally use PiezoFlush to clean all the internal parts of all our printers, and have several printers that are 7+ years old and still working very well after a history of good maintenance routines.

You are doing auto nozzle checks, where the printer prints the blocky nozzle check, then reads the printed pattern and either does a cleaning cycle (if it senses any gaps), or prints the next section of four positions (if the first four printed well). I personally never do auto nozzle checks and always do manual nozzle checks (all positions print on one line, with horizontal dashes for each nozzle, which I examine visually).

If you haven’t already, I recommend you clean the capping station, wiper blade, flushing box, and bottom of the print head using Bounty White paper towels and either warm distilled water, or PiezoFlush for even better cleaning power.
Also, when were the dampers last replaced in this printer? How often do you agitate the ink cartridges to maintain in-suspension pigment? On average, how often do you use the printer vs. how long does it sit unused? What is the humidity level in your printing environment?

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

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Hey Dana,
I know our biggest problem is lack of consistent use. Its often a month or more between printing usage. I’m not sure how to do a manual nozzle check, but that sounds like a good start. I havent had to change the dampers as of yet. TBH, I never even heard of that procedure till recently. And I’ll admit to rarely shaking the cartridges as well. Again, it has never really been an issue with this printer. Even with light sporadic use, I never really had much of a clogged nozzle/banding issues until recently. In Florida, its quite humid most of the time, maybe that helps.

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Ok, it sounds like you have lots of information to move forward. We recommend flushing ink and installing PiezoFlush into a printer that won’t be used for a month or longer, so that may be something you’ll want to look into as well.
Please keep me posted and let us know if there’s anything else we can help you with.

Best regards~ Dana :slight_smile:

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how do you do a manual nozzle check?

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As per your printer manual, a manual nozzle check can be printed thru your computer from the Epson utilities, or from the printer’s control panel by turning off the auto nozzle check feature.

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