Grim Reaper hovering over my 7900

[randal21]

I have babied my 7900 knowing it was "touchy" and finally I can"t get my yellow to look like the other colors on the nozzle check print out. A gap shows up in the middle of the nozzle print out only on yellow. Many cleanings and windexing hasn't helped. May have happened when I was away for 10 days and thought my humidity level was okay for it not to clog. My question is.... Is there any solution out there besides the $2000 head replacement? Are there heads for sale and can some one besides the Epson recommended company that seems to have a corner on the market put it in? I thought I read where you could find heads for the 7900/9900. I see there is no market on eBay to sell a broken 7900 and don't want to sell it to someone since it seems to be a lemon! A third choice is doing like someone doing a u tube that claimed they had a solution for the clogging problem.... They took a sledgehammer to their printer...problem solved! Any thoughts here....?  Ps....I have replaced it with a HP Z3100 printer!

[Mark D Segal]

Hi Randal,

It would be a real shame to need to replace an expensive printhead just for a problem with yellow. There must be a cheaper solution. When you did your cleanings, did you run prints with lots of yellow in them between cleanings? If you don't do that, successive cleanings can actually worsen the problem. I have a 4900, which is essentially the same technology in a smaller package, and when I have left it unused for such periods of time, the first nozzle check looks pretty hopeless, but with a succession of clean-print-clean-print, after 45 minutes or so of that they all come back (so far at least, and I've been using it for close to three years). The key is to print between cleanings. As yellow is your only problem, I assume you are cleaning only the pair with yellow. Make a file with a very large yellow patch to print. If after a few regular cleaning-printing cycles of the pair the yellow has still not come back, do one or more using Clean>Powerful, always running the print between each clean. It's a time consuming nuisance costing paper and ink, but it is the procedure Epson Pro Graphics once recommended to me and it has been very useful. if you have already been doing all that as suggested here, sorry for wasting your time. I don't have any other sure-fire ideas.

[randal21]

Thanks Mark. I know you been a great Epson supporter but after trying everything you mentioned over the last month ... I see no difference. Only worse now. Can't get the gap out of the middle missing 3-4 lines on my nozzle check printout. At this point it's beginning to look like a dinasour as I make room for my HP printer. Hate trashing such a beautiful machine. May have it crushed and send the results to the Epson designers, CEO/ etc. Thanks again.

[Mark D Segal]

Actually, I was only trying to be helpful to you. :-) But I suppose there are people who need to discern agendas wherever. Best wishes in getting it resolved - I'm outta here.

[randal21]

Thanks Mark. Didn' t mean any disrespect or negative energy towards you. You have always been so helpful with my Epson hurdles. I am at the end of my rope as my trusty 7800 never gave me any problems and regret selling it. I made a jump from a Nikon camera to Canon and haven't regretted the decision one bit. Thanks again.

[Mark D Segal]

OK Randal, thanks and understood. And I can relate to your frustration as I've had my fill of clogging issues over the 15 years I've been using these machines; it's a huge PITA, no doubt. In another thread there's a discussion about a 7890 vs 7900. As I mentioned there, I tried to find some comparative performance info but didn't come up with anything really helpful. However, on the unsubstantiated hunch that there may be some helpful technical differences between x900 and x800 series, more research along these lines may be appropriate.

[Garry Sarre]

If you're lucky, it could be a capping seal replacement, a lot cheaper than a head. If it doesn't seal, the cleaning cycles won't draw the ink through (I believe).

I had similar issues as you recently. The tech came out and replaced the seals. Unfortunately in my case , it didn't solve the problem. He showed me how ink had dried on the outer surface of the head. He tried physical wiping, cleaning. No joy. If the ink dries on the inside as well, it clogs the holes. so, my second new head was installed/ along with a capping seal kit. Par for the course in my case. I still feel it is an amazing machine and am prepared to cop the cost of replacing heads every 3 years.

Sorry, I know that's not what you wanted to hear.