topic Re: Put ink in the wrong tank in new GL5020 printer in Desktop Inkjet Printers

Put ink in the wrong color tank in new PIXMA G5020

Stepinwolf — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 15:38:14 GMT

I know it was stupid, but I am trying to figure out what to do after being stupid. I put yellow ink into the Magenta tank. The printer is new, has never been turned on. So I am open to listening to suggestions that might make this printer be OK eventually. I haven't put any in the Yellow tank. I was wondering it this ink has anti-bleed chemicals in it. I know that some inks do such that when two colors come in contact, the pigment percipatates out. I am hoping this is not the case for when I try to fill the tank with the correct color in the future.

Re: Put ink in the wrong tank in new GL5020 printer

Danny — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 12:38:03 GMT

Hi, Stepinwolf!

So that the Community can help you better, we need to know exactly which Canon printer model you're using. To date, we have not put out any product using the model name "GL5020," but the printer you're describing sounds similar to the PIXMA G5020. Is that what you're using, or is it something else?

That, and any other details you'd like to give will help the Community better understand your issue. If this is a time-sensitive matter, click HERE search our knowledge base or find additional support options HERE.

Thanks and have a great day!

Re: Put ink in the wrong tank in new GL5020 printer

Stepinwolf — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 13:17:32 GMT

You are right the printer is a Canon PIXMA G5020.

Re: Put ink in the wrong tank in new GL5020 printer

shadowsports — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 14:09:58 GMT

The printer may never be the same or "OK".

This is why, The amount of $$$ you might need to spent to try resolve this will likely be prohibative.

You can try to siphon out as much of the incorrect ink as possible, then fill with the correct color and perform many

cleanings until the tank has been flushed out. Have never looked at a tank, so have no idea if removing ink is even possible.

Maybe send it to Canon for repair? <<< that definitely won't be cheap.

Either way, it wll probably cost you in ink, time, shipping or repair the same amount as a new device.

Re: Put ink in the wrong tank in new GL5020 printer

Stepinwolf — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 14:17:23 GMT

I had the feeling that is true I couldn’t believe that I had made the mistake until it was too late. Since the machine has not been turned on, the tubing and the print head are not yet contaminated. Getting the ink out looks difficult since a lot of the design of the refiling system is to avoid getting ink all over everything, getting something into the tank to draw the incorrect ink out would not be easy.

Re: Put ink in the wrong tank in new GL5020 printer

shadowsports — Sat, 17 Aug 2019 13:07:05 GMT

Agree. Thought this might be the case. At this point, call Canon. Tell them what you did and see what they recommend. They might even help.

Canon Support

Re: Put ink in the wrong tank in new GL5020 printer

Stepinwolf — Thu, 22 Aug 2019 03:56:56 GMT

UPDATE: I was able to obtain a syringe with a blunt 4” 25 Gage needle and use it to pull as much most of the yellow ink from the Magenta tank and placed it in the Yellow tank. Then I refilled the Magenta tank with the correct ink. From that point I went through the setup steps provided. The printer seems to be functioning well, so I think if there are problems with the color, it will improve as more ink gets flushed through the system. I think I could have used a 14 gage needle and it would have fit down in the tank. I needed most of the 4” length to reach the bottom of the tank. So far so good.

Re: Put ink in the wrong tank in new GL5020 printer

squidgim — Sat, 03 Dec 2022 03:06:14 GMT

Thank you for posting the solution here as well as in the reviews of the "Dispense All - 10 Pack - Dispensing Needle 4" - Blunt Tip Luer Lock" on Amazon. I made the same mistake of pouring the yellow ink into the Magenta tank of a brand new Prixma G6020. After a failed attempt to disassemble the printer to swap the tanks, I found your post here detailing your success siphoning out the ink with a syringe. I then went onto Amazon to search for 4" dispensing needles, and upon finding one, I saw your comment in the reviews section along with photos. I purchased a 21 gauge needle because it had the fastest shipping time but I agree with your assessment that a 14 gauge would have likely worked (and been faster). The process of transferring the ink from one tank to the other went smoothly and I haven't noticed any impact to print color quality. Thanks again for going the extra mile to share your solution with the world!

Re: Put ink in the wrong tank in new G5020 printer

Stepinwolf — Sat, 03 Dec 2022 03:48:20 GMT

I am glad it helped. I had some color issues initially since there was still some of the wrong color in the lines, but it cleared up after some printing.

Re: Put ink in the wrong tank in new G5020 printer

shadowsports — Sat, 03 Dec 2022 10:35:49 GMT

Positive results are always good to hear. 👍

Re: Put ink in the wrong tank in new G5020 printer

cedarspring — Sun, 19 May 2024 19:50:41 GMT

PIXMA G4210 experience, 5 year old model — My wife was struck with unexplained "brain cramp'; incorrectly filled Yellow Tank with Magenta ink; fortunately realized error before printing anew!?
Canon Support (ALL CANON PHONE NUMBERS) was rude, non-existent, refused to talk with me (at ANY price); agent insisted that product was "not registered', although the product clearly shows it IS properly registered in my online account!? Absolutely TERRIBLE customer concern or support!
By probing the ink tank, I determined that an opening to bottom of tank was @ 'nearest left corner' (from front of printer) of tank (i.e., not straight in).
Purchased Amazon 6 Pcs Blunt Tip Dispensing Needle 14 Gauge x 5" with 3 Pcs 30ml Disposable Syringe ($9). Worked perfectly; extracted 50ml+ of ink easily.
Ran some 'Deep Cleaning'; printed several pages of solid yellow file; refilled yellow tank after it ran dry; everything appears to be fine!

Re: Put ink in the wrong tank in new GL5020 printer

cedarspring — Sun, 19 May 2024 19:51:58 GMT

PIXMA G4210 experience, 5 year old model — My wife was struck with unexplained "brain cramp'; incorrectly filled Yellow Tank with Magenta ink; fortunately realized error before printing anew!?
Canon Support (ALL CANON PHONE NUMBERS) was rude, non-existent, refused to talk with me (at ANY price); insisted that product was "not registered', although the product clearly shows it IS properly registered in my online account!? Absolutely TERRIBLE CUSTOMER CONCERN AND/OR SUPPORT!!
By probing the ink tank, I determined that an opening to bottom of tank was @ 'nearest left corner' (from front of printer) of tank (i.e., not straight in).
Purchased Amazon 6 Pcs Blunt Tip Dispensing Needle 14 Gauge x 5" with 3 Pcs 30ml Disposable Syringe ($9). Worked perfectly; extracted 50ml+ of ink easily.
Ran some 'Deep Cleaning'; printed several pages of solid yellow file; refilled yellow tank after it ran dry; everything appears to be fine!

Re: Put ink in the wrong tank in new G5020 printer

Brushstrokes — Sun, 14 Jul 2024 15:33:11 GMT

Well, I can't believe I made the same blunder. After a frantic and fruitless search of Google, I came to the Canon Community and am so grateful to know I'm not the first who poured ink into the wrong tank! I refilled yellow into the magenta, as did others above. Maybe because the yellow ink appears red in the bottle? At any rate, I will go the way of ordering a syringe according to the experiences above, and can't thank you enough, fellow dumdums. ; )

Re: Put ink in the wrong tank in new GL5020 printer

Newton65 — Sun, 23 Mar 2025 22:12:28 GMT

I had anew ink supply and the yellow bottle turned out to have red ink in it. Didn't realize until color pages were coming out courrupted. It took a while to figure out what was going on until I took a close look at the yellow bottle. Calls to the ink supplier got me a response that the warranty was expired. Weren't interested in the problem that they had created.

Searching found this user group.

I liked the recommendation of simply emptying the offending tank. I ordered a 24ga 4" needle that locked into a 30ml extraction syringe. Only problem is that every effort to insert the needle into the top of the tank was blocked. close inspection of the top of the yellow tank ( in my case) resulted in no way to to get into the tank. I considered drilling a hole but was reluctant to risk particles falling into the tank and ultimately plugging the print head. So, I loaded up a bunch of paper, highlighted two full pages in yellow and printed away trying to empty the yellow tank. Currently in process which seems to be working but I'm now getting random black smudges, smears and deposits. I'm not out of the woods yet. Will report as soon as I finish this attempt. (Watch this space)

In the meantime, any suggestions as to how to get the 4" needle into the yellow tank will be appreciated.

Re: Put ink in the wrong tank in new GL5020 printer

Newton65 — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 15:24:36 GMT

BTW: Newton failed to identify the Cannon unit as a GX3020

By simply printing yellow onto about 25 pages front and back I got the tank cleared of the red and and it now prints yellow. Kinda a pain but got the job done.

In the future, I'll be looking closely at the bottle before loading ink.

In the meantime, I'll be wanting to see how to get an extraction needle into the top of a tank.

Another approach I saw

on a you tube was to remove the print head and access the ink supply portal. Again use a syringe into or on the offending ink portal and start extracting the ink until the offending tank is empty. reassemble the print head, load ink correct ink in the offending tank and run a maintenance deep clean - maybe twice.