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8Ć13 TroubleshootingC3187Ć90000
If a customer is complaining about shortened cartridge life or frequent cartridge failure, you
should check the cartridgeĆcap alignment (procedure below). This is especially true if the
problem is always happening to the same cartridge. A sure sign of a misaligned cap is excess
ink around the cap and inside the ink reservoir. You should clean the caps and reservoir
using only water. You should also clean the wiper.
Cartridge caps
Seating area
The cartridge caps (also called serviceĆstation caps) are located in the service station.
Looking closely at a cartridge's printĆhead reveals two parallel rows of nozzles. The cap
should form a seal that surrounds the rows. If the caps are mispositioned, the seal may be
touching one or more of the nozzles. The result is premature cartridge failure and a messy
service station.
The most common cause is that the cap is not seated properly on the serviceĆstation sled.
Any of the serviceĆstation parts could cause misalignment if defective or installed incorrectly.
The following tools are recommended for this procedure:
D Soft lintĆfree wipes
D NonĆpermanent ink marker (dry erase type works best)
D 10X magnifier
D Print cartridges
To check the alignment of the caps with respect to the printĆhead nozzles
Remove the window, center cover and left endcover.
Manually move the carriage out of the service station.
Load very clean cartridges into the carriage.
Use lintĆfree wipes dampened with water to clean the cartridges.
Apply ink to the seating area of the cartridge caps with the ink marker.
Manually move the carriage into the service station, then out again.
Remove the cartridges and observe where the ink mark is positioned with respect to the
nozzles. A 10X magnifier is very useful for this step. If one is not available, you should
look at how centered the mark is within the gold pad area.
If the ink mark is touching any nozzle, you need to check and reseat the cartridge caps
and repeat the test.