New PIXMA TS6420a prints faded black prints on "cardstock" setting

[PrinterFatigue]

‎03-09-2026 07:47 PM

I have a new TS6420a printer, and for a few weeks, it printed flawless black prints. All of a sudden that ended and it won't print true black on any setting other than "plain paper". When I try to use another setting such as "cardstock" or "matte" in order to print on a heavier weight paper, it prints the all black print as a faded navy blue color, even when I use regular printer paper on the cardstock setting. Any suggestions? thank you.

[DerrickL]

Does a nozzle check test print look correct?  It could be a partially clogged print head. First run the nozzle check program and if I am correct then, run the  cleaning program, not the deep cleaning which uses a lot more ink. 

[PrinterFatigue]

Yeah the nozzle check looks fine.

[PrinterFatigue]

Thanks for the reply Derrick but is there any one from Canon that can help me out? Thanks.

[DerrickL]

 It seems to me that the paper is backing off from the printhead for some reason and then it does not get a full dose of ink. Overloading the feed tray, either too many total pages or too many heavy pages could be causing a problem. 

Do you set the printer for grayscale when setting it for cardstock? What does it do if you load only one sheet of cardstock and then print with the correct settings?

[PrinterFatigue]

Thanks Derrick. I only ever loaded one sheet of paper into the feed at a time. I've done all sorts of trial and error with the print settings and can't figure it out. I've toggled on and off the "black and white" setting which doesn't seem to affect anything from what I can tell. The only significant change that I can make seems to be from switching the media type between "plain paper" and "cardstock". I've attached a picture to show the difference here. The faded, lighter side on the left is the "cardstock" setting. On the right is the "plain paper" setting which does show up darker but since it's a setting for regular letter paper, it prints lighter when I want to use a heavier weight paper.