topic Re: Ink not flowing, empty ink tubes, G3260 MegaTank in Desktop Inkjet Printers

Ink not flowing, empty ink tubes, G3260 MegaTank

jpady — Sun, 18 Jun 2023 19:44:13 GMT

The yellow stopped printing halfway through a photo on my G3260. After letting it rest for awhile, the yellow came back. I Googled for answers and found many Youtube videos showing Canon MegaTank printers with empty ink tubes. I looked under my hood and saw ink only in the black tube (see photo). The 3 colors were nearly empty even though all of my ink tanks are still over 90% full. (This is still the original ink).

The two most popular fixes I found for this problem are: 1) doing an Ink Flush or 2) drawing the ink back into the lines with a syringe (which doesn’t seem feasible on the G3260). I am hesitant to perform an Ink Flush because of the amount of ink that is wasted and prematurely filling the maintenance cartridge.

Questions:

1) What causes the MegaTank ink tubes to run dry? Is this an inherent problem to MegaTank printers?

2) What is the best fix for when the tubes are empty?

3) Can I abort an Ink Flush mid cycle when the tubes are full to save ink (and avoid overfilling the maintenance cartridge)?

Re: Ink not flowing, empty ink tubes, G3260 MegaTank

ArthurJ — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 17:28:41 GMT

Hi,

I recommend reaching out to Canon support for real time support with this issue. You will need to register your Canon gear HERE to access additional support options.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Re: Ink not flowing, empty ink tubes, G3260 MegaTank

jpady — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 18:53:13 GMT

Unfortunately it's over 1 year old with a 1 year warranty, so I expect Canon to charge for support. If I can't find any clues on this forum, I'll just do a flush and try to stop it as soon as the tubes fill. I've had several Canon printers over the years (laser and inkjet) and they've all been great. This is the first one that isn't working flawlessly.

Re: Ink not flowing, empty ink tubes, G3260 MegaTank

weberprinter — Sun, 28 Apr 2024 00:14:34 GMT

Jpady, did you ever get this fixed? I have the same problem. Canons reply to your thread was weak.

Re: Ink not flowing, empty ink tubes, G3260 MegaTank

waldosquid — Fri, 17 May 2024 15:43:51 GMT

I had a user with one of these printers that quit printing with error code 5200. It gave vague info on what that error meant. The suggested troubleshooting of cleaning the print head and doing an ink flush didn't work. Upon closer inspection, I saw that 2 of the 4 ink tubes were not filling, even though all 4 tanks were full. I don't know exactly what actions fixed it, but I repeatedly opened and closed the tank lids in the event that "vapor lock" could possibly form in the tanks. Then I did a little "percussive maintenance" by banging on the sides, front, and top of the printer to dislodge any air bubbles that might be blocking somewhere or possibly to get ink to flow down to reach any pumping mechanism. After this, I repeated the ink flush procedure. This got one more tube filling, so I repeated all these actions once more and all 4 tubes filled and the printer worked again.

Re: Ink not flowing, empty ink tubes, G3260 MegaTank

JAB72 — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 19:09:32 GMT

After performing your suggested troubleshooting steps, the ink tubes filled and my printer is now working. Thank you very much, I'm happily printing again!

Re: Ink not flowing, empty ink tubes, G3260 MegaTank

jpady — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 18:50:22 GMT

I missed this reply last year and thought this thread was dead, but got a message when JAB72 replied. This hasn't happened again since my post, but I try not to print a lot at one time (that's what I blamed it on). I also thought the same as you about vapor lock and I pop the tops on the tanks occasionally. I just looked under the hood. I see a tiny bubble in the M line and a 1-2" space in the K line. I'll try to work it out without doing a full flush.

Re: Ink not flowing, empty ink tubes, G3260 MegaTank

FooshigiFox78 — Sat, 02 Aug 2025 11:59:41 GMT

Thank you waldosquid! I too was getting the 5200 error when attempting a deep clean on my printer. The only tube that was filled with ink was the black ink. Your troubleshooting method worked for my Canon PIXMA G3202. I opened and closed the ink tank rubber topper at least 20 times per color, and did a little "percussive maintenance" on the top, front, and side like you mentioned. Took around 5-10 minutes for the ink flush to complete and then I checked the inside and all color ink tubes were filled! Was able to print a picture of crayons on the first go after that. Thank you so so much! Thought I was gonna have to take it to a repair center.

Re: Ink not flowing, empty ink tubes, G3260 MegaTank

eddydas — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 05:32:25 GMT

Here is a fix that won't waste that much ink.

1. Hit Ink Flush from settings

2. Once you hear the higher pitch sound of ink pumping, open up the lid and watch the ink flow. The flushing won't stop, and you can see the ink flowing through the tube.

3. Once it reaches the print head, wait for 3-4 seconds, then disconnect power. This way it doesn't try to keep flushing needlessly

4. Repeat the above for all colors that needs flushing.

5. Optionally, do a nozzle cleaning (you don't even need deep cleaning usually)

5. Do a nozzle check - you should now see all color again.

Re: Ink not flowing, empty ink tubes, G3260 MegaTank

layer — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 21:21:40 GMT

I tried everything else listed, even the crazy "percussive maintenance" thing - and none of it worked. But "Replace Ink in Print Head" under "Maintenance" absolutely worked. I followed the directions in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMSFoAZvQtE

Got my printer back! Hope this helps someone else