Epson 7890 Clogged nozzel warning

[Dave Gurtcheff]

I have an Epson 7890. I bought it new quite a while ago. I also have an Epson P800 for prints smaller than 20"x30". Since I do not use the big printer very often, I have made it a habit to Make a nozzle test print every Saturday Morning. This has done wonders for not having a clogged print head. Until recently. The last several weeks when I make a nozzle print pattern, the cyan nozzle showed a slight clog. I did a cleaning cycle only on the pair of nozzles that included cyan. When I do the cleaning using the nozzle pair, I get a notice that cleaning failed and recommends I run another cycle, which I did. I got this notice twice more and decided to print another nozzle check pattern and it was OK (no clogs). I had a big print order today, so I ran a nozzle check print pattern, and it again showed the cyan nozzle as clogged, I ran the cyan pair cleaning cycle and it failed, so I again printed a nozzle check print and the cyan looked fine. I  printed 3 prints, two 20"x30" and one 24"x32" and they all look fine. Any clues as to what is going on?
Thanks in advance
Dave in NJ

[dgberg]

16 yo so getting a little long in the tooth. I had one and it was one of the best Epson's to date.
 Rarely clogged and I got about 10 years out of it which is quite good.
The cleaning failed seems to come up even if your nozzle check is perfect. (Most of my Epson's do that.)
If I do a clean I never pay any attention to that notice. After cleaning and you get a good nozzle check move on to printing.
The older that printer gets the more it will bounce back and forth between clear and clogged nozzles.

[Dave Gurtcheff]

Thanks Dan. Good advice. The "Proof of the Pudding" was true in this instance, as the big prints were fine. I sure hope the printer hangs in there for me for a while. At age 89, if it dies, it would be a difficult decision to replace it or not. If I had my kids living close by (they don't) and one was interested in photography and printing, that would make that decision easier.
Thanks again for the insight.
Dave