Unclogging Epson Print Heads

Tools needed:

1 - 10cc Injector

1 - 4" - 5" of fish tank air line tubing (Wal*Mart fish department) Windex (No Drip works best)

We are going to flush the print head out with the Windex cleaner. Some people from outside the US may not know about Windex. It is a popular window cleaner sold here in the US. This fix is not authorized by Epson, it should only be used as a last ditch effort to fix your printer.

Cut four or five inches of fish tank air line tubing and attach it to the end of the injector, remove the needle first. Pull 3 - 5 cc of Windex into the injector. Hold the injector so that the tubing is pointing up and push the plunger a little until all the air is out of the tubing. You don't want to inject any air into the cartridge. Put this assembly aside for now.

Turn your printer on and hold down the paper feed button until the carriage moves to the cartridge change position. Unplug the printer. This is important, you don't want the carriage to move in the middle of the procedure.

Remove the cartridge that is giving you trouble. Look inside the carriage cavity for a small post that would normally be inserted into the ink port of the cartridge, in other words the post that supplies ink to the print head. You may need a flashlight to see it.

Attach the other end of the tubing (which is attached to the injector) to the post inside the carriage cavity. Be very careful not to break the post. If you do, GAME OVER. There is very little room to work but do the best you can. Try to get the tubing on the post firmly for an airtight connection. Slowly inject about 2cc of the Windex solution into the print head. Some of the Windex might leak out around the post, just try to get at least 2 cc injected into the print head. It may offer resistance, just be patient. Repeat this procedure for any other color that is not printing. Make sure to wash the tubing between each color.

Put in a brand new cartridge, not refilled. Don't ignore this step or chances are the procedure will fail. New generic cartridges are ok.

Move the carriage back to the right position and plug in the printer. Run three cleaning cycles with a nozzle check before and after. If there is still a problem try running another three cleaning cycles. Then try a test print. If it still has problems let the printer sit over night and repeat the procedure. If the second day procedure fails then it's time for the Epson repair shop, or buy a new one.

Sometimes this procedure will not work, we're not sure why. It may be because there are other problems with the printer, not just clogged nozzles.

Barry Shultz is the author of Atlascopy News, and President of Atlascopy, Inc. Atlascopy specializes in affordable alternatives to the high cost of printer supplies.

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