I had a pair of surgeries last year and was off work for 6 months, so I turned off my 8300. When I turned it on a month or so ago, not surprisingly, the printer called for both printheads to be replaced. I sent them to a refurbisher in Dallas who has a good reputation online with this service. One, he said, could be successfully refurbished and one was unservicable. So I bought a new PF-05 and installed the new and refurbished heads about 2 weeks ago. As expected, the printer automatically began the printhead alighnment print. When I came back to check a little while later, I ended the process because this is what I saw:
I called canon tech support and sent them these photos. The tech asked about roll vs. cut sheet, and, if roll, was the roll near the end. It was from a roll and the roll was near the end. She speculated that there might have been too much curve to the paper, so I got out a (flat) cut sheet, set the vacuum and the printhead height to their highest setting and tried a pair of nozzle check prints. This was the result:
I sent this image to Canon, too, but never heard back, so I called again yesterday. The tech I spoke with yesterday said that it was a mechanical problem with the gearing of the printhead carriage and that the only solution was to have the entire carriage assembly replaced. Assuming I can even find one (spare parts production for the 8300 halted in 2017), I'm guessing that the cost for that part and an authorized service technician visit will be a sizable portion of the cost of a new printer. I'd just like to coast through for the rest of this year with this printer and replace it next year. Has anyone seen this issue before, and is some sort of cleaning and/or adjustment available short of a carriage replacement? I'm comfortable taking things apart and am mechanically more adept than many, but I don't see any practical way to get at the bottom of the carraige and/or the head parking area for a good cleaning.
