Epson C82 printer

[removeb4flight]

My printer won't print color. It was working fine, except for some skipping in the last color jobs, but the color cartridges were getting low. I tried cleaning the heads numerous times on the old cartridges, with no improvement. Finally I replaced the color cartridges. I got one print with all yellow off a photo, and now I see the printer go thru its normal print cycle and no color at all comes out. Black works OK. Went thru the clean cycle and test page with new cartridges installed but no colors print. The trouble shooting page from Epson is no help. Any ideas?

[flickit]

My printer won't print color. It was working fine, except for some skipping in the last color jobs, but the color cartridges were getting low. I tried cleaning the heads numerous times on the old cartridges, with no improvement. Finally I replaced the color cartridges. I got one print with all yellow off a photo, and now I see the printer go thru its normal print cycle and no color at all comes out. Black works OK. Went thru the clean cycle and test page with new cartridges installed but no colors print. The trouble shooting page from Epson is no help. Any ideas?
...the color ink has dried up somewhere in the ink printing path (nozzle?). Might try some rubbing alcohol on the head with the cartridges removed and see if you can get the alcohol to flow into the head thus breaking up the dry ink. Run a print test after the alcohol wask but be prepared to terminate it early so as not to ruin the head then retry the color cartridge. Wipe it clean with the alcohol before reinserting.

[removeb4flight]

I was afraid that might be the problem. When I take out the 3 color cartridges I see 3 little tubes, which are covered with ink and I assume the nozzles are below that. I can't get to the nozzles without dissassembling the printer. I am reluctant to pour alcohol on the tubes, since it looks like it will overflow into who knows where. I'll try a drop of alcohol on a Q-tip. Is this something the store that sold it to me should fix?

[flickit]

I was afraid that might be the problem. When I take out the 3 color cartridges I see 3 little tubes, which are covered with ink and I assume the nozzles are below that. I can't get to the nozzles without dissassembling the printer. I am reluctant to pour alcohol on the tubes, since it looks like it will overflow into who knows where. I'll try a drop of alcohol on a Q-tip. Is this something the store that sold it to me should fix?
...a try. I would do some griping about it especially if you purchased a short time ago. Usually these printers do some self-cleaning and aligning during power on. Do you always keep the unit on? If so, might want to power it off and then back on more often. This assumes, of course, that it performs self-cleaning. Otherwise another reason to shut it of when not in use is to keep the self-heating from drying the ink left in the nozzle.

[removeb4flight]

I think you are right. I just talked to a service tech at my local store. He indicates the ink has probably dried out and now the nozzles are clogged. I just printed a text page this morning, changed the ink cartridge, and now the BLACK doesn't work either. The printer is 18 months old, and I have kept it on all the time. The manufacturer doesn't warn you that the heater will dry out the ink!!! Thanks a lot Epson. The tech says to work on them is $60/hr and minimum charge will be $85. Plus he can't guarranty that the cleaning will be successful. I guess I will buy a new printer and turn it off when the computer is off. crash_!

[flickit]

I think you are right. I just talked to a service tech at my local store. He indicates the ink has probably dried out and now the nozzles are clogged. I just printed a text page this morning, changed the ink cartridge, and now the BLACK doesn't work either. The printer is 18 months old, and I have kept it on all the time. The manufacturer doesn't warn you that the heater will dry out the ink!!! Thanks a lot Epson. The tech says to work on them is $60/hr and minimum charge will be $85. Plus he can't guarranty that the cleaning will be successful. I guess I will buy a new printer and turn it off when the computer is off. crash_!
...as I not too long ago threw one away for the same reason. Make certain when buying a new one you do some research at a place (or Web Site) where you can get these kind of details beforehand. Wish I could have warned you sooner. We have both learned a lesson but I'm not sure it can't and doesn't happen with even the top of the line printers?? If you aren't going to shut it off then print a test page every few days.

[Unregistered]

more than likely the ink tube has fallen off. This is more likely than dried ink with the C8x series. It has a bad design that allows the ink vacuum tube thing to fall off frequently. You can always reconnect the the tube. Here's how you tell if that is your problem. The easy way is turn your printer on, wait till the head is moved to the left (anywhere, just not at home position b/c it has a lock in that position). but once the head has moved turn power off, then move the head all the way to the left manually. You'll see a white plastic thing with a smaller black plastic piece on it (it will be on the right directly under where the home position of the printer head is). Push it all the way to the right and you should see a tube/nipple thing hanging down directly under the black piece. There should be a clear tub attached to it. If you see the tube disconnected thats your problem, or if the tube is clogged itself. Reconnecting the tube and/or cleaning the heads itself should fix your problem as long as you dont kill it by pumping the syringe too fast. (The tube coming off will cause it not only to print, but it will render the printer unable to clean its own printer heads)

http://www.maxpatchink.com/directions-solutionkit8082.htm

check this site out for cleaning printer heads

hope this helps, im in the middle of trying to fix my C82 myself

[Mr T]

Also, keep in mind that unless you got a very high end color printer, the printer costs less then the cartridges. If it's old, may wanna upgrade.
Epson is one of those companies that has really really really really really really advanced over the years. :D

[removeb4flight]

Thanks for the help. I haven't tried the repair yet. I kind of lost interest in the Epson because I took the easy way out and got an HP 7450. I think it is true the ink cartridges ARE worth more than the printer!!!