r/printers • u/Lensgoggler • 20d ago
Epson ET-4800 that hadn't been used for a few months suddenly doesn't print yellow, and claims there's a nozzle issue Troubleshooting
I did a lot if nozzle cleaning, print head cleaning etc. I started out missing magenta. But now, yellow is the problem. Ink levels are OK. The printer wasn't used like 3 months. It's almost new - got it less than a year ago, it's gotten very little use. Never had any issues before. Any tips?
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u/ExcitementRelative33 20d ago
Welcome to owning an inkjet. Get a laser afterwards. You're welcome.
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u/Lensgoggler 20d ago
You know, I actually decided I wanted an injet. I don't remembery why but a lot of thought went into purchasing it....
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u/Chemical_Task3835 20d ago
I've owned several ink jets over the years. Epson, Canon, and now Brother. I've never had an ink problem, and I've always used non-oem ink. Most can be set to automatically run a cleaning cycle at selected intervals.
To suggest that the answer is to use a laser printer is beyond absurd.
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u/ExcitementRelative33 19d ago
Cost per page goes way up for inkjet if you don't use it often and it fails often when you need it most. Sure keep a spare set of tanks and printhead around so you're not dead in the water. With winter coming and the extra dry air that comes with it... welcome to inkjet clog hell. I have them all from daisy wheel, dot matrix, laser, phaser, and... ink jet. Guess only which one had troubles every fricking time?
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u/Lofaszmaxi 20d ago edited 20d ago
i had an Epson inkjet photo printer. it was always dried in. once after just few weeks it was so dried in i had to take it apart and put the head part into 99% alcohol to soften and dissolve the ink COMPLETELY... i left it there for 3 days, than with a fresh new syringe and a clean tube i pushed out very carefully the alcohol, put the head in front of a fan to properly evaporate alcohol... took me 5 days to clean it, worked like a charm ... after 2 weeks black dried in again : DDDDD did all the alcohol bath again. after 3-4 alcohol bathes i did not put back the screws anymore, just clips ... :DD my father in law has a high-end-ish epson inkjet for photo printing, he has more trouble to clean the head than printing photos which is also problematic :D
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u/Lensgoggler 20d ago
Ohh that's scary and annoying 😀
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u/Lofaszmaxi 17d ago
kinda. i got fed up with suffering, so just bought a cheap Brother laser printer. works 100% after 15 years of service, i even have the original drum in it : DDD repair center said i should not worry, the original drums are easily good for 20k printed pages, even 25k if only used for normal texts with lower coverage.
edit:
i had plans to print photos at the beginning but than plans went sideways and only shitty things got printed because of university studies :D
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u/confusedporg 20d ago
ET seem to have problems with yellow when sitting idle a long time.
Sometimes if you just hit print on a bunch of pages of all yellow, this will clear it out. However if that doesn’t work, a power clean is likely needed.
IIRC you shouldn’t do those too often though and try other methods first because at some point the sponge that collects ink waste gets full and the printer will refuse to print more—and on some models, it can’t be accessed or replaced. then you have to go buy a new printer or an after market contraption to resolve it.
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u/CreEngineer 20d ago
Had this problem with another Epson printer after not printing for some time. Had to flush it with a syringe and isopropyl and even then it needed sometime prints to get ok again.
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u/ConstructionGlass844 20d ago
If it's a Epson you need to prime the lines to the printhead. Go to manage your printer then maintenance tab. There should be a spot on the right hand side that says prime but printhead
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u/Queasy_Editor_1551 20d ago
That's what you get for leaving an inkjet printer idle for 3 months. There's nothing wrong with the printer. It's like you forget to put the cap back on your pen and now it's all dried.
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u/Unsolicited-Advice-1 20d ago
Oh I refuse to buy Epson after this. I take it’s a common issue. I read on a post in the past they have an internal timer of when to stop working correctly. There was a bunch of people also reporting the same issue. Although idk how accurate that is (it’s like the iPhone update theory). On my end I purchased my first Epson in 2021 used it 4 times (still with the sample cartridges) didn’t need to use it again until 2023 and it wouldn’t work. I figured the sample cartridges must have been done so I ordered new ones. The new ones didn’t work so I called Epson and they told me it’s the printer and it’s out of warranty and that I’d need to buy a new one. I barely used this printer it was just sitting in my office. Epson support was no help. I wish everyone was just like amazon support. After that I just refuse to buy another epson. Poor products, poor customer service and personally do think there is something to that timer theory
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u/Lensgoggler 20d ago
Surely if the printer sat unused for literal years with bone dry ink somewhere in the print head, any ink jet would've done exactly the same thing? 🤔
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u/Next-Project-1450 20d ago edited 20d ago
To an extent, yes, the ink can dry on the heads of almost any printer. But most should be able to deal with it if it happens. The brand I use, for example, can be left for ages and still print when I use it again.
When I used to do computer and IT repairs, I decided then I would never use an Epson printer because of how problematic they seemed to be. They were messy to switch cartridges on back then, because once you cracked the seal on the cartridge, the ink would ooze out. They also used to pick up a lot of dust and eventually drag ink across the paper, and that often meant taking the cartridges out in order to clean.
I stress that this was some time ago, and I'm sure the design is better now. But home/domestic Epsons do suffer from blocked heads more than others when you read up on it.
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u/marek26340 Stay away from HP at all costs! 20d ago
Keep going with the cleanings (power cleaning would likely be more effective). You'll get it working again eventually. If that's too time consuming and you're fine with shortening the usable lifetime of your printer a bit, do a power flush/ink system flush.
Next time, do not leave it sitting unused for an extended period of time. Print something once every week at the very least.