F4180 Print Head Cleaning

I've seen posts regarding the removal and cleaning of out of warranty print heads and was hoping someone could direct me to instructions for removing the print head for cleaning on the F4180.
I am on my THIRD black cartridge which prints as if there is no ink in it. When I returned the first, the store probably thought I was cracked (returning an empty in the new box??). I thought perhaps there was a run on bad cartridges, but maybe it is the print head?
I almost purchased a different brand printer today while getting yet another cartridge.
Thanks!

I'm having the same basic problem, except that cleaning the print heads does not solve the problem.  I've changed the black ink cartridge/head twice now with no improvement.
HP customer service has been no help at all - my printer is an HP Officejet Pro 5400.  The last HP printer I will buy, I think.
PC magazine and other online sources are giving HP printers lousy reviews.  I may buy a Canon this weekend and junk the Officejet Pro 5400.

Similar Messages

  • How to stop print head cleans?

    I have a B110A printer. Each time I install new ink, turn on or wake up the printer from sleep, it spends over 5 minutes doing some sort of set up. Most of all, the installation of new ink gets reduced significantly before I do any printing. This is obviously the print heads working without my permission. Is there any way I can disable this? I only want to run print head cleans when I choose.

    Hi @Doorway,
    Welcome to the HP Forums! 
    I understand that you are wondering if the printhead cleaning can be disabled with your HP Photosmart Wireless B110A printer. I am happy to answer this for you!
    Please see this guide, Ink Usage in Inkjet Printers, for more information.
    This is a routine function of the printer, in order for the printheads not to be clogged. It cannot be disabled.
    Hope this answers your question, and thank you for posting!
    RnRMusicMan
    I work on behalf of HP
    Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
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  • How can I control automatic print head cleaning every time my Officejet Pro 8500A Premium starts up?

    In general we really like our new Officejet, but we're very frustrated by the automated start up procedure.  Every time we turn it on it does a self check and then cleans the print heads.  It's bothersome for two reasons: 1) We want to print quickly, not wait for 5 minutes.  2) We're worried that all this cleaning is using up our valuable ink.
    We recently had to replace all the color print cartridges, and I think one cause for the other's depletion was all this cleaning.
    We're using HP cartridges.
    It's possible that this printer is intended for an office environment where it just stays on 24x7.   For our occasional use, we normally turn it on when we need it and turn it off when we're done. If the power consumption is low enough (less than 5 watts) I'd consider leaving it on as a possible work-around.
    I did my best to search FAQ and postings to see whether there was already an answer to this issue - but couldn't find one.
    This question was solved.
    View Solution.

    cattyprinter wrote:
    1st installation failed --waited 3 weeks to have another go --installed on line all working --So Notation said
    scans ok  fax set up ok .On start up IT goes thru ALIGNING PRINTHEAD  --not one here print done and 3 1/2 cartridges GONE .Tooooo BEEEEE expensive to use   Where is the users manual --?None only double side page of wire connections  --a book of one page english and balance in goobly **bleep** .Never again will I spend my measely pension on a HP printer  Who is going to replace my cartridges ? Try and have a telephone query  OH NO no speak only info email that says this is generated email with no info! Talk about easy money for rubbish --tell your mates HP is a NO GOER        -:manmad:
    There should have been a manual on the included CD.  You can also download a manual from HP here. 
    If you need to Contact HP you can find phone numbers here.
    Bob Headrick,  HP Expert
    I am not an employee of HP, I am a volunteer posting here on my own time.
    If your problem is solved please click the "Accept as Solution" button ------------V
    If my answer was helpful please click the "Thumbs Up" to say "Thank You"--V

  • HP 8500 won't give the option to perform a third level print head cleaning

    I'm not sure why I care since every time I clean the heads the printer is actually worse but the printer never gives me the option to go to level three cleaning.
    The steps
    * Go to clean print head option in the menu
    * Printer goes through cleaning process possibly being momentarily interuppted by the check device process
    * printer goes to aligning printer because no matter what is printed it always goes to aligning printer afterward 
    * printer fails align and I hit ok
    * printer allows the me to start the second level of cleaning and I start it
    * repeat from 2nd step
    I'm never given the option to go to the third level.
    I have a nice 20 minute video of this. and that's only one cycle....
    This happened before and after I updated to the latest firmware.
    In regards to my first statement.  I started cleaning the print heads because the magenta stopped printing and after cleaning heads several times no colors or black print anymore.  I few days later somehow the printer started prininting again very poor quality and again no magenta so again cleaning the heads caused it to stop printing at all.

    Hey @Taylor2813,
    Welcome to the HP Support Forums!
    I understand that you're experiencing print quality issues with your HP Officejet 8500 All-in-One. I would like to work with you today. I did want you to be aware that it is generally not a good idea to run many cleans on your product. Level 1 and Level 2 just run a similar cleaning process. If you want to run a third level cleaning you could manually go into the menu on the printer and simply run another clean. Because the cleaning process uses ink to flush the ink system on your product, should you need to run a third clean on the product be aware that it will be just using a lot of ink for the process. Generally the rule of thumb is: should the first clean and second clean not make a difference don't continue as it will just waste ink.
    Because the cleans you have been running up to this point have made no difference and actually caused your issue to become worse, I do believe that your issue actually lies with your printheads. You have two printheads in your printer. One is the Black and Yellow and the other is the Cyan and Magenta. They control the ink going on your paper. If the Printheads are defective you will experience print quality issues. If the issue just affects Magenta than you may just have a defective Magenta printhead (should a new Magenta cartridge not resolve your issue). However, if the issue affects all colours and black than it would be a defect with both printheads.
    For your reference I will include the Print Quality Troubleshooting document for both versions of the Officejet 8500 series:
    HP Officejet Pro 8500A A910a: Fixing Print Quality Issues
    HP Officejet Pro 8500 A909a: Fixing Print Quality Issues
    In both of those documents you can see that should the cleaning not resolve the issue after 3 attempts than it is time to replace one or both printheads.
    Should you want to look into ordering printheads I suggested calling our Technical Support.
    HP Technical Support can be reached at : 1800-474-6836
    If you live outside the US/Canada Region, please click the link below to get the support number for your region.
    HP Worldwide Contact
    Please let me know if this information is useful. I wish you luck with resolving this print quality issue!
    X-23
    I work on behalf of HP
    Please click "Accept as Solution" if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
    Click the "Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the right to say "Thanks" for helping!

  • HP 6940 print head cleaning in Win7

    I have an HP 6940 which was originally installed on my XP system. I now have moved the printer to my WIN7 Professional system but no longer have access to the toolbox to clean the print heads. Is there anyway to install the toolbox on the WIN7 system?

    I have the same issue too. The driver is built in to Win 7 so there's no toolbox or HP software. How do we get the cleaning and maintenance features installed on Win 7?

  • Printer head cleaning

    I cannot use the menu on the inkjet printer itself as it tells me that the black ink needs replacing.  Light keeps flashing and I have tried multiple ways to correct this; just replaced the ink cartridge.
    If I try to use the menu on the computer, when I click on Maintenance tasks, a screen titled "printer preferences" comes up.
      I read that you can clean printer heads by removing from the printer and soaking in water, but I don't think I can remove the print heads from our printer.  It is an HP D7100.
    This is the second time I have posted these problems.  Can anyone help me?

    Hi @regeaston,
    Welcome to the HP Forums!
    I noticed that your HP D7100 keeps saying the black needs replacing, and the light keeps flashing. I am happy to help!
    I would recommend to look through these guides:
    Ink Cartridges Empty.
    'Problem with Printhead,' 'Printer Failure,' 'Ink System Failure,' or a '0x...' or a 'C2...' Error M....
    If the guides do not work, please call our technical support at 800-474-6836. If you live outside the US/Canada Region, please click the link below to get the support number for your region. Country-language selector.
    Hope this information helps, and have a wonderful day!
    RnRMusicMan
    I work on behalf of HP
    Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
    Click the “Kudos Thumbs Up" to say “Thanks” for helping!

  • Photosmart7260 not printing 2colors in print test did printer head cleaner new ink and aligned HELP!

    Since these two colors light magenta and magenta are not printing naturally the pictures look awful! everything else shows ok except the print quality pattern which is where the colors do not show

    Hi,
    Since you have tried cleaning and aligning with no result, I think this is a HW issue. Please contact HP support ASAP so that if its a HW issue they can replace the printer for you.

  • Cleaning print head HP Officejet 4315 All-in-One Printer support

    Hi,
    I'm having a problem with my 
    HP Officejet 4315 All-in-One Printer.
    I'm using Windows 8 and have topped up the ink levels. The printer is printing with white lines which I understand indicates that the print heads need cleaning.
    All the advice I can find online says that to run a print head clean from your computer you need to go the printer in control panel > select printer properties > then click on the 'maintenance' tab.
    Using Windows 8 it appears there is no "maintenance" tab and I cant find any option to clean print heads elsewhere on the properties tab!
    Not sure where to go from here?
    Many thanks for your help in advance.

    That is the only way you can clean the ink cartridges. I would recommend contacting HP technical support for further assistance. Click here to find out: HP Worldwide Contact.
    Good luck.
    I worked on behalf of HP.

  • Printer head problem - HP Photosmart 5515 Printer

    My printer has suddenly stopped working.  At first the document was very blurred and I got an error message saying something about the printer head being missing.
    I rebooted the printer and tried the automated 'printer head clean' option.  Now when trying print any sort of document, the printer appears to work OK but then there is nothing on the paper.  There is also now no longer any error message coming up.
    Does anyone have any ideas how I might be able to fix this problem?
    Thanks

    Welcome to the forums MarkHampton!
    I saw your post about the issues you are having with your Photosmart 5515. I would like to suggest trying the steps in the guide to see if they can help you!
    'Incompatible Ink Cartridge(s),' 'Cartridge Problem,' or 'The Indicated Ink Cartridge(s) Must Be Rep...
    If the troubleshooting does not help resolve your issue, I would then suggest calling HP's Technical Support to see about further options for you. If you are calling within North America, the number is 1-800-474-6836 and for all other regions: click here.
    Happy Monday
    R a i n b o w 7000I work on behalf of HP
    Click the “Kudos Thumbs Up" at the bottom of this post to say
    “Thanks” for helping!
    Click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution!

  • Officejet Pro 8500 A910 Not Printing & Heads won't clean.

    I have an HP Officejet Pro 8500 A910. It has not been used for about 2 months until yesterday, but was left powered on. The Black, Yellow and Cyan carts were getting a bit low and my wife want to print a few dozen pages of black text. I had a HP 940 Black cart to hand so I replaced it. She printed about 2 dozen Word pages in draft format which uses less ink. They printed OK, but when she went to print more, the print got fainter with each page until they were coming out of the printer totally blank then when the cyan ran out the printer stopped printing blank pages all together. I installed new HP Cyan and Yellow carts, but the printer continued to spit out blank pages. I printed a Quality Diagnostic Page and it showed one column of blocks in Test Pattern 2 missing completely and some white streaks in at least one of the colored blocks. At this point the Ink cart levels were K=90, Y=90, M=50, C=90. The Print Head Health was KY=Good, MC=Good. At this point I ran an Alignment and the report showed all colors except Cyan which was completely missing. I had remembered from a few year ago, that this is one simple way to show if color heads were not printing. I then performed 3 successive level 1, 2 and 3 cleanings, and each time the cleaning report showed less color until only faint yellow showed on the printout. Also the alignment now only shows faint traces of yellow.  I suspect the heads need to be either replaced or removed and cleaned manually. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks very much in advance. Peter B.

    Hey , Welcome to the HP forums! I hope you enjoy your stay here. I see that you are having some issues with printing from your Officejet 8500A. I can help with that. This document outlines how to troubleshoot print quality issues with your printer. If that fails then this document will assist you with cleaning the printhead. If after following those documents then the printer itself is going to need to be replaced. You can contact HP support by clicking on this link. On the next page scroll to the bottom and fill out the form. When that is completed you will find some information on how to contact HP directly. If this resolves your issues then please let others know by clicking on Accept as Solution below my post.
    I hope this helps and I hope you have a great day!

  • Clean Printer Head

    Please can you tell me how to clean the printer head on the HP Officejet Pro 8600 - all in one?

    Hi @TanyaDeKlerk,
    Welcome to the HP Forums! 
    I noticed that you are wondering how to clean the printhead on the HP Officejet 8600. I am happy to look into this for you!
    Are you getting any error messages on the printer's screen? Or poor print quality?
    In the meantime, please see Solution three: Step five: Use the automated tool to clean the printhead, within this guide, An 'Ink System Failure' Error Message Displays on the Printer.
    Please see this post, Want Good Answers? Ask Good Questions, by @Bob_Headrick, so you can get the most out of these forums.  
    Hope this information is helpful, and have a great day!
    RnRMusicMan
    I work on behalf of HP
    Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
    Click the “Kudos Thumbs Up" to say “Thanks” for helping!

  • Yellow printing green, print heads not cleaning and apparent leaking of cartridge

    We have been having problems with the quality of the printing from our printer.
    We noticed the colour was a bit off and ran a report, we found that the block of yellow that came out (where it tells you the estimated ink levels) was a dark green/grey colour.
    We also noticed a black/grey tinge to the Magenta part.
    There were also very thin lines on the Cyan section.
    So we cleaned the print heads.
    We did the whole three levels of cleaning and it didn't help at all.
    After searching the net again, I found something where somebody had said their ink had leaked so I looked at the cartidges themselves (I didn't touch any part of the head!) and when  I looked at the yellow one I found that yellow seemed to have leaked... but I couldn't see from where. It was only a small amount.
    I found something on here that recommended making a block of yellow on Word and printing it out a few times to see if anything improved. I did this and the block of yellow not only came out dark green again, but on each page there were horizontal gaps and on each successive page the gaps were a lot wider.
    I have just done a similr thing for yellow, magenta and cyan  where I put a block of each colour on one page and printed it a few times.
    The Yellow (at the top) is very nearly a solid dark green with a few darkish lines running through it.
    The magenta has a few white horisontal lines passing through it.
    The cyan has a few thick light blue horitonal lines passing through it with white lines inside of those light clue lines.
    The reports show that the heads are aligned.
    Is there a chance that the black is leaking somehow into the yellow? As that is the only colour that seemed to be changing. I've replaced the black ink, but I don't want to now also waste a yellow ink if it's not going to help.
    Replacing the yellow ink will also not help with the problem of lines through the other colours.
    Is there a way of cleaning the left over ink that may be hanging around inside the printer tubes?

    Hi @lou1990lou,
    Welcome to the HP Forums!
    I understand that you are having a print quality issue with your HP Officejet 7610. I am sorry to hear this, but I am happy to help!
    I would suggest to go through this print quality guide, Fixing Print Quality Problems for the HP Officejet 7610 Wide Format e-All-in-One Printer Series.
    If the guide does not solve your problem, please call our phone support at 800-474-6836 to get your printer serviced. If you live outside the US/Canada Region, please click the link below to get the support number for your region. Country-language selector. 
    Best of luck!
    RnRMusicMan
    I work on behalf of HP
    Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
    Click the “Kudos Thumbs Up" to say “Thanks” for helping!

  • Photosmart 8230. How do you Remove the print heads for cleaning?

    Hi guys, I have a Photosmart 8230. After a few lines of printing the black ink fades to almost nothing, all the colours are perfect. There are no error messages. I have done the self cleaning and alignment procedures and wasted a lot of expensive ink. The test page comes out with streaks on the black only. It has been suggested that I take the print head out and immerse it in hot water as a last resort. The question is, how do I remove the printhead? or should I use it as a sea anchor!!
    This question was solved.
    View Solution.

    I just did this to a HP Photosmart 8250 which is in the 8000 series range. I assume they are similar. I was an appliance repair man and have done a lot of other tings in my life, so I decided to take a shot at repairing my 8250 rather than junk it. For 3 Years it was great, only one paper jam, and fast great photos, so I didn't want to give up on it. HP will not repair printers for us, I think because it is too labor intensive, and they can sell a new one for what it would cost.
    I actually fixed my HP Photostat 8250. Its working but the color printing is not as good as it was, yet, but I am hoping that will improve as all of the colored inks work their way through the system.
    Taking one of these apart and putting it back together is like a Chinese puzzle, so its appropriate that they are made in China. Most of the parts inside can be easily damaged if you are not careful. The covers have very clever ideas to their design and how they snap in place. Take your time with the covers and use small tools.
    Getting it back in working condition is another matter. There is a 6 circuit pump and more than a few feet of tubing. I had the side covers off while I tested it and this pump seems to work in both directions. This pump is inside the left side cover. There is another motor with a timing wheel of some kind that stops and starts in both directions at the same time the printhead carriage is whipping back and forth printing. There are other motors also. These things are ingenious. It is surprising that I bought it for less than $100 on sale. It looks like a $1000 piece of equipment inside.
     It would probably be a good idea to not remove the left side cover, but if you do, be very careful around the clear timing wheel. it looks delicate. Below is from an email I sent to a friend and I am revising it to make sense. Remember this is something that really requires training to do this, but I see people today that have the guts to tackle all sorts of projects, so for what its worth, and you asked.
    Under the right side cover is a motherboard, with a bunch of cables plugged into it, small, larger and even ribbon cables. I found it necessary to remove the motherboard. I had a bit of experience working on Canon printers and I would also suggest you take digital pictures as you go so you can view them on your PC. I am also going through this because I don't like being told we can get anything repaired correctly today, its ridiculous that these printers have become just more throwaways. If you want to do this, as a guide, I must have spent 8 to 10 hours doing this, but now I could do it again in 2, that is the learning process.
    Once you get the top off the printer, you will see the printhead carriage. The carriage will be to the right side. The printhead is retained by two screws at the front, (take pictures) a spring clip at the rear and two screws that hold a plastic cover over the six ink hoses that plug into the printhead, its a manifold strip affair. You have to unplug the manifold to remove the printhead, but now I am not 100% sure its necessary to remove the printhead? The ink gunk you will see after you move the printhead to the left is no doubt most of the problem.
     Probably after the hot water treatment as described below, the built in printhead cleaner will be able to resume cleaning the printhead, after the hot water cleans the gunk from IT.
     I removed the printhead like I say below, but first do this. Under the printhead there is a little carriage with a patch of foam rubber that cleans the print head nozzles.This little device works back and forth while cleaning, but while it is parked, with the printer off, it is forward and you won't be able to move the printhead. Use a flashlight to be sure and you will see how to push the cleaner carriage  to the rear and then move the printhead carriage to the left. THEN, you will see the gunky ink mess that has accumulated. This gunky mess I think is the main problem. There are also some felt pads below the cleaning device to absorb some of the ink gunk. I don't know how the HP techs do this, but I used the hot water method below, I had nothing to lose. I would move the printhead first and then you can decide about removing it. I would make sure not to get any of the electronics wet and why I removed the motherboard and why I say take photos. Its hard enough to remember where the different screws alone go, when you are doing this. It can be done, mine is working, even if not perfectly, YET.  You need to be very careful with your fingers, because it is hard to find space to hold onto the printer and whay it might be a good idea to not remove the left side.
    They are so complicated, its just a matter of time before they get gunked up with ink and the printhead begins floating in the mess. I had nothing to lose so I removed the printhead, carefully, taped up all the hoses so they didn't dry out, Then I removed the motherboard to keep it from getting wet, THEN I held the messy ink end under the HOT water in the laundry tub and flushed out enough ink to dye a bathtub full of water. The hot water worked well. Then I let it all dry out. There are some delicate procedures to all of this and it takes time. I think that is why its very hard to find anyone to fix them. Its labor intensive and probably why HP won't repair them.  The print section is the problem, and why I won't buy an All in One printer, Fax, and Scanner. I do buy the extended warranty's now. If you tackle this, take your time, take photos, and good luck. By the way, the 8250 uses O2 print cartridges, is that the type of printer you have, but a lot of this applies to other printers and other brands, and I bet I am not the only one to do this. Before I started this the diagonstics showed no problems, so I assumed it was the the ink aspect of the printer, and not an electronic of mechanical problem. I hope this helps.
    ----- Original Message -----

  • I have a problem with the pen in my mag/cyan print head. I have tried cleaning it, and replacing it

    I have an HP ML7850 all-in-one model.  The display reads "There is a problem with the mag/cyan print head."  The HP solution center said I needed to replace the print head.  I did, but the problem still exists.  I went through the online self-diagnostic testing, and the results are that there is a problem with the pen.  I tried to gently clean the pens, but it did not help.  Any suggestions?

    On D5460, it now prints with a cyan tint over whole picture.

  • How do I remove the print head in a PIXMA MX922 printer so I can clean or replace it?

    How do I remove the print head in a PIXMA MX922 printer so I can clean or replace it? The printer clean and deep clean features will not provide print quality corrections.

    Hi Happy,
    To remove the ink tanks and print head from the printer, please follow the steps located here.  Please note that we do not recommend cleaning the print head using any other methods other than the ones built into the printer, as it may do damage to the printer.  If performing at least one cleaning and two deep cleanings on the printer do not resolve the issue, the printer may require servicing; please call or email us at one of the methods on the Contact Us page to obtain your servicing options.
    Did this answer your question? Please click the Accept as Solution button so that others may find the answer as well.

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