PIXMA G6020 Not Printing Dark Cyan

[tobyspill]

I have a Pixma G6020 that is printing every color except dark cyan. I have done ink flushes, cleanings, deep cleanings, but every Nozzle Check returns the same. I even replaced the print heads and flushed the cyan tube, and it still doesn't print dark blue

Ink looks to flow through the tubes without issue. What could possibly be going on here? Any ideas?nozzle-check.jpg

[DerrickL]

The G6020 does not use a separate “light cyan” ink. It has one cyan tank, and the pale-blue band in the nozzle check is normal cyan output. In your photo, the dark cyan band appears fairly uniform, so the issue may be caused by the file, driver, or color-management settings rather than the color print head, certainly not the black print head. I suggest you run a nozzle check from the printer panel not the computer, if you have not done so to double check the print head. 

Printing a Nozzle Check on the Canon G6020

To perform a nozzle check on your Canon G6020 printer, follow these simple steps:

Steps to Print a Nozzle Check

1. Access the Control Panel
   Turn on your Canon G6020 and locate the control panel.

2. Navigate to Setup

   • Press the Setup button on the control panel.

3. Select Maintenance

   • Use the arrow keys to scroll to Maintenance and select it.

4. Choose Nozzle Check

   • Find and select Nozzle Check from the maintenance options.

5. Follow On-Screen Prompts

   • Follow the instructions displayed on the screen to complete the nozzle check process.

[tobyspill]

Yes, I am aware that it doesn't use a "ligher" version of each ink. If you look at the photo that I attached, you can see Magena has 2 lines, dark and light. Yellow has 2 lines, dark and light. 

The Cyan has only a "light" line - no dark line.

An earlier comment listed a whole ton of steps... I ran through them. No change (seems you edited your comment to change them to the current comment). There is ink in the Cyan tube, and if that tube was blocked, wouldn't there be no cyan lines at all?

All checks and operations have been done on the printer itself, not from the computer.

[tobyspill]

Anyone have any other ideas?

[DerrickL]

You are correct there is only one cyan ink tube. I would originally thought it was a print head issue, but to not print that bar only and no streaks or lines in the light bar maybe, but you changed the head. This leads me to believe it is an issue with the print head ink flow and this is what I found:

Since the dark cyan bar is completely missing even when printing the nozzle check directly from the printer's hardware, we can officially rule out computer software or driver glitches. 

Because you have already replaced the print head and performed an ink flush, the problem is likely a complete lack of physical suction or an airlock preventing the ink from reaching that specific set of nozzles. Inside the single physical Cyan chamber of the print head, there are two separate rows of microscopic nozzles: one row fires large droplets (which creates the light cyan band) and one row fires extra-fine droplets (which creates the dark cyan band).

The following hardware troubleshooting steps can help resolve this issue:

1. Check for "Air Pools" in the Print Head Assembly

When a print head is brand new, it is filled with a clear shipping fluid. If air is trapped right at the top joint where the physical ink tube connects to the print head carriage, the ink flush will glide right through without actually pulling the ink into the fine-nozzle chamber.

1. Press Setup -> Maintenance -> Start replacement on the printer panel.

2. Wait for the print head carriage to slide to the center, then open the main cover.

3. Crucial: Look at the top of the color print head carriage. There are two circular joint buttons (typically blue/colored).

4. Lift the carriage locking cover up and then push it down again, ensuring you firmly press both joint buttons down until they click completely flat. If these buttons are slightly raised, air leaks in, destroying the vacuum suction needed to feed the dark cyan nozzles.

2. Verify the Purge Pump Unit (The Suction Cap)

If the printer cannot create a vacuum suction from underneath, the ink flush will fail to prime the dark cyan nozzles.

1. Open the printer cover and look to the far right side where the print head parks when it is turned off. You will see a small rubber assembly with two square mesh pads (the purge station).

2. Use an eye-dropper or a wet syringe to place a few drops of water or glass cleaner (like Windex) directly onto those tiny rubber pads.

3. Close the printer cover and run one standard Cleaning cycle from the panel.

4. Immediately reopen the cover.

   • If the fluid is gone: The suction pump is working perfectly.

   • If the fluid is still pooling on the pads: The purge pump mechanism is failed or disconnected. No matter how many flushes you perform, ink will never pull through to the dark cyan nozzles because the physical pump is not pulling a vacuum.

3. Check for Ink Line Trapping

When you replaced the print head, did you verify that the ink tubes were full? If there is an air pocket in the line, open the printer hatch, look at the clear cyan ink line, and ensure there are no physical kinks or 2-to-3 inch gaps of clear air space. If air gaps are visible, a localized suction using a priming tool/syringe on the printhead nozzle dock may be required to manually pull the ink forward before locking it down.

Please let me know:

• Did the fluid on the right-side rubber pads drain completely when you ran the cleaning cycle?

• Are there visible gaps of air inside the clear plastic cyan ink tube leading to the carriage?

[Rafe]

Hello,

I have exactly the same issue. Same bar (the darker cyan one). Rest of the Nozzle check AOK. No visible gaps kinks or air. Purge pump operating fine (it successfully purges all the other nozzles too, initial nozzle check had issues with all colours, purge fixed all but the darker cyan. I did notice that there was more "play" in the colour print head than the black one, something I don't see an easy way to fix. I'm wondering if the contacts on one corner or edge of the colour print head are not making? It may be relevent that it is the same band that has failed in both our cases...

[tobyspill]

I agree, it seems like the print head has somehow lost connection with the printer, so it doesn't even know to print dark cyan.  My old color print head started doing this after I did some cleanings/flushes and it started printing all but dark cyan. Then I replaced the head and got the same issue.

Is there a schematic showing which of the pins controls the dark cyan nozzles? Maybe I can inspect one of those for corrosion and condition.

[Rafe]

Good idea re the pin-out (The same occured to me some hours after posting the above but you beat me to it). Thank you for letting me know that a print head replacement doesn't fit it (will save me the money for what would have been my next step). You have a fresh print head that has never worked, yes? The pins leave tiny scratches on the contacts on the print head, mine was working so they are all scratched from that. Try taking your new print head out and inspecting the contacts (good lighting preferebly at an angle and good near distance vision needed). I'm shortsighted which helps. Looking for: Any contacts without scratches. Any change in the depth or nature of scratch up versus down or left versus right. If my obversation re the play of the print head is correct it is meant to click home when closing the top but the colour one isn't. In my case the bottom left contact looks somehow different but given it worked once this may just be a red herring. I looked hard for any locator latch mechanism, perhaps a small lip somewhere on the print head chassis, maybe plastic and maybe broken, I didn't see such. Unfortunately, it is looking as if we may both need a new print cartridge chassis rather than just new print cartridges. Bit disappointing, I haven't even had the printer long enough to need to refill the ink!

[tobyspill]

Tiny scratches... interesting. I will take a look and see if there are any on my new and old print heads.

And correct, replacing my print head did not fix it.

As an aside, I'm really disappointed in this printer. I had my previous Pixma for like 15 years, and only got a new one because the driver support was no longer possible on newer Mac OSes. This one has had issues since I got it 2 years ago.