ok. so i hooked up this old printer, bought new ink cartridges, and did about 400 cleanings. color will finally work, but i can't get a single spot of black to show up. someone recommended to take out the printer heads and soak them... sounds like it will work but i have no clue whatsoever how to do that. will i break something? will i ruin them? i wouldnt be very happy if i did. is there any other way to unclog huge clogs? or could there be another problem. i guess i will settle with directions on how to precisely take out these bad boys and clean them. aidez-moi s'il vous plait!! thank you so much.

I agree that the print heads are likely to be the problem and it is the next thing that I would look at after replacing the ink cartridges and running the printer's cartridge cleaning process.

I'm about to go out but I'll have a quick look for instructions on the 'net for you. If I don't post back, I haven't found anything and I'll move your post into the hardware forum as someone familiar with Epson printers may be able to help.

Do you still have the old cartridges? If so, you might be interested in this:

http://www.cartridgesave.co.uk/info/...int-heads.html

...... or this:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wilf.james/cartclen.htm

Hi Rauschit, it's Gary again.

So sorry for not replying sooner, I'v been a bit pushed for time.
If your interested in having a go at ripping your printer apart, tomorrow (Tue 9th), i'll rip mine down and take step by step notes of the procces, it realt is quite easy. And i shall then post them on this here help line.

Hi Rauschit, I'm back with the business.

1. Remove the top by taking out 4 screws:- 2 at the back, and 2 under the lid at the front.

2. Remove the ink cartridges, + the holders. If you look at the back of the holder you will see that the hing will pull apart, do that, and take out the sliding guide, one on the left and one on the right.

3. You will see a data ribbon going into the back of the cartridge holder, that needs to be removed by carefully taking it out of it's white (on mine) plastic retainer, then pulling ,again carefully, out of it's connector.
If you look under the plastic retainer, you will see 2 hooks keeping it in place, and the front is held under a black plasic clip.
By putting your finger under the back, and your thumb on top and to the front, and lifting your finger and pressing your thumb, the 2 hooks will release.
Now unhook the front and remove.

4. At the bottom of the cartridge holder you will see a metal bar retained by a screw to the right, undo and remove. That bar holds in the ink nozzels.
Remove them and clean.

When you have done this, you will see how easy it is. good luck.

Gary.

rauschit,
If your still out there, I would be interested if you tried sorting your printer out. If so, were the instructions of any use, if they were let us Know, they may be of some use to others.

Gary.

ahhhh. i'm back. this old printer is hooked up to my parents computer and i havent been there in a while so that explains my absence. i found a very small tube and put it on a syringe and injected what i thought was a printer head. are they not the pointy black things underneath the ink cartridges?? that is the only place i found that a very smal tube would fit onto. i was told to let dry, so i did and i havent been back to test it. my parents dont dare touch it. they know zip lol. i will be back this weekend from school to give it a test run. ive had a cheapo canon for the past 5 years of college and it hasnt let me down once. this epson thing was expensive and is now worthless. i dont get it. and my canon ink costs $7! i thank you for all your help. if the clog isnt clean, i will attempt to take it apart... since they wll be giving up on me and the printer soon!

thanks

amanda.

I've never liked Epson printers. I read an article on the Internet claiming that Epson manufacture the print heads to last about 18 months so that they don't get any warranty claims but it won't be long before the customers are out in the shops buying another new printer. I don't know how true that is but most of the Epson printers that I've experienced haven't lasted nearly as long as they should have done for one reason or another. I only buy HP printers for my office now.