Canon ipf8300 print head wrong position

[sboerup]

I've owned my ipf8300 since Dec 2011 and have not had a single problem until June this year.   I had printed very frequently for 2 years (around 150k sq inches) and only had replaced one print head (right) at that point, along with one maintenance cartridge.  

I moved office spaces in June, and had not really used the printer in 4 months or so.  I likely didn't follow the "moving" instructions to the T when moving this printer, so maybe that was my biggest fault.  We kept it as level as we could, but it was in a moving truck so who knows what happened.  

Once back in the new location, I powered it on and it told me to replace the left printhead.  Knowing that it had never been replaced, and I recently had replaced the right,  I purchased a new one, put it in, and powered it on.   It then told me to replace the other (right) print head.  What?  This had maybe 1000 sq inches of printing (compared to the 150k I had gotten out of the original ones) and thought this was absurd.  I let the printer sit for another month before caving and buying another print head.

I got a new one in (genuine canon, always brand new), and it then told me to replace the left print head.  WTF!  I swapped the print heads, and then it told me to replace the right.  OK, so at least the error followed.

I called up B&H (who I bought the print heads from), and told them the one I just bought must have been DOA.  They sent out a new one and I just got it.  I put the new one in, and it didn't tell me to change a printhead this time, YES!

However, now the error says "PHeads wrong pos."  Checking the service manual, it basically says to swap the print heads because they appear to be in the wrong positions.  Weird.  Knowing that ink never passed through either, I didn't think anything of it.  

If I swap them, the error persists.

If you followed the history of this error above, you'll see that I had previously swapped the R to the L, just to see if the "bad" printhead error followed.  It did follow, but I never moved the L back to the R.  So, my assumption is that once you "initialize" a printhead (put it in, its powered on and verifies its position), it will never be "authorized" to work in the opposite side.  

So, with the brand new replacement going in the R side, I'm afraid both print heads are now "initialized" ONLY for the R side.  This is not documented anywhere and I can't seem to figure this out.

Anyone have any bright ideas outside of buying a new print, for the 3rd time?

When I start the printer in Service mode, and check the error history, here are the most recent ones:
03800202-2807 - Printhead(L) was installed right and left and oppositely.
03800402-280B - Replace L Printhead

[deanwork]

I don't care if you are out of warranty or not, call Canon. I've talked to them about 4 times and they have always been extremely helpful and have always sent me what I needed overnight with no charge and never charged me to discuss issues when out of warranty ( though your print heads are in warranty). They don't want you hassling with stuff like this. They want you buying inks, not messing with print heads.

[sboerup]

Interesting, do you have some special phone number for Canon that gets a super awesome rep?  We called and they directed us to some service providers in the area, both who were incredibly unhelpful.  It makes sense to me that they want me buying ink, but, the retailer we bought the print-heads from is replacing one of them since its considered "DOA".  We'll see if it fixes it or not!