HP Z3200 prints unwanted grey

[jasdown]

I print very infrequently and have been fighting unwanted grey of late in my Z3200's output. It begun about six months ago; it is very evident in the flesh-tones of portraits (whether color or B&W). It's as if the highlights are muddied by a layer of light grey ink. The only workaround I have found to subdue the overabundance of grey is to reduce the Global Ink coverage by as much as 20%, but that affects all the colors when I really only need to reduce the grey.

As a side note, I had a previous problem related to grey when the application of Gloss Enhancer also applied a corresponding field of light grey ink in the same coverage area. The workaround then was to replace the Light Grey printhead. Do you suppose it's the same printhead again? If so, it's curious to me that it keeps failing. In fact, it's the only one I have ever had to replace in two years of extremely light printer use.

Thanks to all for your input!

[sbay]

Have you printed out the diagnostic pages? Do any of the calibration or profiling sheets look different than previous ones?

[Bruce Watson]

I print very infrequently ...

And therein might be the problem. Could be pigment settling. Remember that even if you shake up the carts, you'll still have to print a while to clear the lines between the print heads and the carts.