Canon PIXMA MX922: PGBK not printing

[Alzanki]

I have a Canon PIXMA MX922 printer and suddenly the PGBK catridge is not printing although the ink level is almost full. I have looked through the forums, but never found a clear solution for this issue. I have tried replacing the catridge with a new one and I did deep cleaning several times, with no avail. When I do the nozzle check pattern, I do not see the PGBK printing nor the grids.

Suggestions?

[dblogan]

This was my problem also.  I did not spend a lot of time scrubbing though, after rinsing thoroughly I soaked the print head in warm water for about an hour and then tested by wiping on the line and could see ink was now coming out.  I still needed to do a couple deep cleans on PGBK only to get the test pattern to be fully printed. 

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@pbyers wrote:

Here's the real solution. [Removed 3rd party link per forum guidelines]

You need to just flush out the printhead as it's most likely clogged.   You can tell this by taking a damp paper towel and trying to press against the underside of the printhead along the ports (the lines in the printhead).    You should have about 6 short lines in a group (the color printing ports) and then on longer port (the PGBK port).   I could see colors on the towel but nothing, or very, very little from the PGBK port.   

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[jf2004573]

Although this took about an hour to clean it. It would have been better to just flush it in the first place rather than use any of the canon cleaner methods.  I'm sure there is a use for them, but since this was the first time I cleaned the printer head this way, I was happy to save a trip and expense to get a new printer. 

I can confirm this works. It took several attempts to clean the PGBK, however, the difference is clear. This was not possible to do with the cannon clean options from the printer. You needed to take out the print head and manually flush it with hot water. I was able to use a plastic syringe ( for kids medicine) and flush the intake ports. Dabbing the print head in 70% isopropyl Alcohol. (90% would have been better)

What I think is happening, is the reduction in ink flow that is causing the double printing or jaggy edges that so many have talked about. So unless you print on a regular basis this will occur.  I have printed approx 6500 pages.  

The image below shows the first page, which was about 1/3 of the way through cleaning. The second was about 2/3 ( I wanted to flush it more thoroughly) and the last page is the result. 

[flasteve57]

HI, I've done this before, but not for the PGBK. I have done a alcohol/hot water flush (with the aid of my air compressor), 2x but to no avail both times. This actually started during printing where streaking started. It was completely clogged and no PGBK on the nozzle check. I know I need to get the alcohol soaking into the pad and get it busted up. Is it ok to just let it sit overnight in the alcohol straight or not ?

Btw there is a provision to bypass the PGBK and use the "color" regular ink, which I am doing until I can get an answer about unclogging the PGBK.

Thanks,

Steve

[gtaprinter]

In my case, the black ink (PGBK) was collecting on top of the print head, but not running through the print head. The text did not print, but pictures were fine (my printer has two black ink cartridges, PGBK for text and BK for images).

The print head was clogged. Tried multiple ways to clean it (removed the print head, soaked in isopropyl alcohol, ran warm/hot water over it, etc...). Nothing worked.

Ultimately, what fixed it, was a print head cleaning kit from an online retailer (can't post name because Canon removes my posts) for $16, which uses a syringe and attachments to power wash the channels inside the print head. It worked fabulously, and now I'm back to having a working printer.

[szollar]

I have a Pixma 922 that printed fine for years, then the PGBK started having problems, from partially printing, leaving odd rectangular gaps in what it would print, to not printing anything at all. Here is everything I tried:

• I REALLY wanted the plastic blob removal to work. I tried it 3 times across two different brands of PGBK cartridges
• I have done deep cleaning at least 6 times (using a ton of ink)
• I removed the print head and cleaned it thoroughly, soaking it in the recommended solution. Did it twice
• I changed all the ink tanks
• I have both "automatically" and manually aligned the print head at least 12 times, seriously
• I cleaned the encoder strip, twice
• I installed the latest firmware (which took patience and multiple attempts)

Right now, I have to change the font color of any document to not-black to print, OR if I select "highest" quality printing, it prints the outlines of letters in a light grey, maybe using the "black" cartridge instead of the PGBK. 

I've run out of things to try. I've wasted a stupendous number of hours on this problem, but it feels like a huge waste to get rid of such a big piece of hardware and replace it with a new printer. 

Any other ideas?

[johnlewisgrant]

Once the protruding plastic knobs are removed, I have moved/shifted the plate with the copper strips up slightly on the assumption that the copper would make better contact.  It's been some time since I had to do that, but that seemed to me to make a difference.  Also, I suppose you could do a once-off purchase of the uber-expenive original part, perhaps to determine whether or not the part, and not something else, is the problem.  I haven't taken that step myself, because I'm very cheap!

[szollar]

Thank you John, I tried that just now (lifting the plate with the copper strips and re-inserting the PGBK cartride), still having the problem, I tried to print a document, it looked the same, so then I printed the nozzle check pattern (nothing printed for PGBK), then I did the auto print head alignment, and manual print head alignment, you can see in the pics it's not printing large portions of the page. I thought about buying an original Canon ink tank, but I've never had problems with any of these and other 3rd party ink tanks before, so am rationalizing it would not solve the issue. I will pull out the print head again and stare at it in case there is something I'm not seeing.  - Suzannozzle checkAuto print head alignment print outManual print head alignment print out

[vankjeff]

I hope you'll still get this even though it's three years old. I'm having the same problem exactly, and I've worked up the courage to try and fix it based on what you said. My only concern is that I don't know exactly where these things are that I'll be wiping off and how I'll get to them. Do I take all of the toner cartridges out or maybe just the big PGBK one and then turn the printer upside down or can you tell me how I do it?Just wipe with really hot water and paper towels and where exactly? Are there any pictures or diagrams anywhere online that you have a link for or maybe you can post one here?

[gtaprinter]

I'm not sure who you were replying to, vankjeff, but the only way to fix this problem is to use a cleaning kit for the print head, which use a syringe, to force the cleaning solution through all the channels of the print head. Obviously, remove the print head from the printer (check youtube for how), and soak it for a while in the cleaning solution, then use the syringe to "power wash" the channels. May have to hold by hand the syringe attachment to the top of each color inlet so that pressure doesn't cause the liquid to escape sideways. Again, most have videos on how to do it.

[vankjeff]

Hi gtaprinter. I was trying to Reply to anybody or to Pbyers' 1 Accepted Solution about where he did it with hot water, paper towels and 15 minutes of rubbing. 

I can't imagine the wisdom either financially or technically of my buying a "cleaning kit for the print head, which uses a syringe to force the cleaning solution through all the channels of the print head".

I was excited that it might be fixed cheaply with stuff I have. I'm OK at doing mechanical stuff. Maybe I just need to take it to the local toner/repair shop? There's one near me, OC Toner Pros, that even is who suggested that I buy this printer. http://www.octonerpros.com