Mark, thank you again.
Yes, you are right, I meant that MK is now getting ink to print, but the bad nozzle problem remains for both blacks.
I know about the risk of the cleaning fluid, however it seemed a bit more safe than using window or floor cleaner....
I bought the printer from a graphic design agency that gave up their offices and it was left over. I was told that it works fine except for the matte ink, that's why they printed everything with photo black. Indeed, the printer *IS* working, and the prints look "ok". But a photographer can see the very faint banding that the missing black nozzles produce. So while it does indeed print, it's not suitable for photo printing right now. I was stupid and didn't ask for a nozzle check print. They made a test print for me and it looked fine, but of course no nozzle check.
The machine has about 4000 prints done, but the majority of it was office printing and small packaging proofs. I don't know how old it is exactly but it looks very unused and is also quite clean on the inside (I did clean the wiper, the flush pad and the capping station when I got it home and it looked not very used).
Transportation was quite quick, 20 Minutes, and I drove very carefully. Printhead was fixed and I made sure the printer was not tilted when loading/transporting.
I am pretty sure the printer had the problem from the beginning when I bought it. And yes, you are totally right about a, b or c.
I found a damper assembly here in Germany for 100€ incl. tax so I might give this a try. I think I can change it myself or with help of my husband. But this would also need an ink eject and then ink fill, which also means I have to buy new cartridges for a few hundred Euros....
If possible, I'd like to avoid the service facility. I called and before I even said more than "Epson 4900", they already came with "new print head!". Yep, the print head MAY be the culprit, but it sounded like they want to replace it before even trying anything else....
Kind regards