Epson P5000 CYAN ink is no longer as "Saturated"?

[Roger_Breton]

I have an Epson P5000 printer, bought in August 2018, so 4 years old now.
It's been going good despite my relatively low printing volume.
I changed the Cyan T9132 cartridge two years ago, July 29 2020.

This morning, when I set out to make a fresh RGB ICC profile, I noticed the cyan printed patches were considerably "lighter"?

The nozzle check print pattern is perfect.

I don't suppose there isn't anything I could do, other than to experiment with a brand new, fresh Cyan ink catridge?

I have not seen anything I could change in the Driver.

I wrote an email to Mr. Epson but I'm not holding my breath for a meaningful answer.

I ran a TC918 RGB chart on it and, in PatchTool, I can still fit all GRACoL2006 colors but, clearly, I lost some "gamut"...

All the other ink colors are stable, in comparison.

[mcbroomf]

Ink may have settled though I have not seen this myself on my low use SC P8000.  Remove the cartridge and DO NOT SHAKE IT, but roll it left/right, back forward and upside down.

If that is the cause it might take some time before good ink makes it to the paper.

If not then swap out the cartridge (short of any better ideas).

[arobinson7547]

How come you didn't ask on the colorsync-users list?

(Just kidding, but I remember the name from WAY back when <smile>

You know, the good old days.

[Roger_Breton]

I talked with a good friend who's had his fingers dirty in large format Epson printers for years, changing print heads himself and what not, and he tells me that, it's the "damper" dans needs changing? Says these things last about three years. Says I could do this myself with the required software and parts. Does not seem to be expensive, not even 50 bucks? Can't believe it can be so cheap... I'm sure a certified service technician will charge an arm and leg...

BTW, got a reply from Mr. Epson tech support who asked the following :

•   Does the nozzle check page print a complete pattern of 10 boxes?
•   Are you using genuine Epson ink cartridges? What are the cartridge part numbers?
•   When and where did you purchase the ink cartridges?
•   How many head cleanings have you tried?
•   What type and brand of paper are you using? Does the same issue occur on regular paper?
•   What application are you using to print?
•   Does the same issue occur when printing from a different program/application?

Before talking to my good friend, Daniel, I went into Photoshop, made a new RGB document, about 16" wide by 5" tall, filled it with "100% Cyan", which, when convertedt to sRGB, got me 0r 159g 227b. Ran it on the printer with no color management, on Epson Standard Proogin 240, just to force fresh ink through the system (may not be all that much ink, alfter all?) but I got a CIE Lab D50/ value of 45 -33 -59 out, plentyful I figure for proofing CMYK applications but, if I go by the comparative measurements of my TC918 from last year, is still 4 DE00 shy of what the "nominal" should be...

I think I have to explore "changing the dampers" solution first before throwing the towel...

Thank you all for the support.