Canon w8400 'prints' but no ink comes out

[Keith]

My ten year old Canon w8400 (pigment ink) has suddenly stopped printing. At first, it would just hang up before it would start printing. The machine would wakeup and start making it's usual noises when a job is sent to it and as the print head would come out, it would stop like it decided to think about something. A reboot fixed that. But now it will go through the motions, head shuttles back and forth but no ink hits the paper. I'm suspecting my printhead is dead because it has been giving me a warning for sometime. It's been so long since I changed the printhead that I can't remember if it would eventually stop with an error code. It's never done this though and I've never gone this long with the printhead warning. Right now, there are no error codes. Since I'm considering a new machine, I'm wondering if it's not a bigger issue.

 

[benstarr]

I don't have any real answers for you but if you have a new head laying around, I'd replace it and see if it works. In my opinion it wouldn't be worth it to purchase a ~$600 printhead that may or may not fix the issue on a printer that old. I think the money would be better spent investing in a new Epson or Canon.

 

[Keith]

Thanks benstarr. That's exactly what I ended up doing. Gambling with a new printhead and luckily, I won. It's printing perfectly now. A $500 printhead was a little less expensive than an $8,000 machine. But I do understand that it is inevitable that I will have to replace it.

 

[Lorenzo lab guy]

Thanks benstarr. That's exactly what I ended up doing. Gambling with a new printhead and luckily, I won. It's printing perfectly now. A $500 printhead was a little less expensive than an $8,000 machine. But I do understand that it is inevitable that I will have to replace it.

Keith, I hope you won't pay $8000 for a replacement. Last spring I saw this: iPF8400 44 in Printer for $2799

 

[Keith]

Lol! Of course not! I plan on replacing it with an HP Latex.

 

[TylerVaden]

Keith, If you plan on upgrading your current equipment, then I would suggest upgrading to the Canon 8400 which we have on sale at LexJet for $2750. If you're interested in going the latex route, then it should be noted that we carry those too! Feel free to reach out to me via email or phone at 941-906-3123 ([email protected])