Hello everyone, I have an Epson SureColor T7270 that started losing the black (PK) color. First, it lost the PK2 channel. I performed a head cleaning, and then it lost PK1, but I recovered PK2. I performed an initial ink charge through the service program, and both channels were lost. I checked the damper kit, and it appears to be fine. I don’t see any ink leaks anywhere. Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Help with Epson SC-T7270 black PK ink is missing
- Thread starter adielm86
- Start date
WeFixPrinters.com
Merchant Member
Hello....looks to me like you may have a failing pump cap, that is the part on the far right that cleans, primes and caps the print head. They are a few hundred bucks. If not that, you are likely going to need a printhead which is closer to $1700-2000. Where are you located? We are an authorized Epson service center in Los Angeles. If you cannot locate a tech near you, I have provided parts I have walked people through replacing some parts themselves. On this particular model, the pump cap is much easier than replacing the head.
Thanks for your response WeFixPrinters.com.Hello....looks to me like you may have a failing pump cap, that is the part on the far right that cleans, primes and caps the print head. They are a few hundred bucks. If not that, you are likely going to need a printhead which is closer to $1700-2000. Where are you located? We are an authorized Epson service center in Los Angeles. If you cannot locate a tech near you, I have provided parts I have walked people through replacing some parts themselves. On this particular model, the pump cap is much easier than replacing the head.
Unfortunately, we're a bit too far away—I live in Florida.
Is there any way to test the pump cap without replacing it? I already bought a damper kit because I thought the black dampers might be the problem. I've also considered that the ink line may have lost its prime, because the last time I used the printer it was working perfectly, and then three days later it started up without printing anything on either of the two PK channels. I checked the entire ink line up to the IC holder and I don't see any ink leaks anywhere.
Thanks for your help.
WeFixPrinters.com
Merchant Member
I wouldn't waste your time replacing the damper assy, very unlikey the cause. The picture is a bit blurry, a faulty head will typically have some nozzle deflection, especially in the vertical lines between the two color patterns, I do not see any. And the fact that you are missing a few magenta nozzles as well, suggests you are having a weak pump cap or maybe it could be very dirty as well as the face of the print head. You could let the head move over to the right and uplug the printer and clean the pump cap area and take a damp paper towel, fold it flat and lay it in the path and move the head over to clean the face of the head...I really think you have a bad pump cap though. Those just went up to $464 from epson. Let me know if you want to give it a try, I can get you one. it is only going to help the overall health of the printer if you ultimately have to replace the head. One way to tell if the pump cap is healthy is to run a cleaning and see if there is fresh ink in the waste ink tank after....you can always put a bit of dry paper towel in the ink holder to see if it gets ink on it
I ran a head cleaning from the printer's control panel, as you suggested, and placed a piece of paper towel inside the waste ink tank. As you can see in the picture, I think it's pulling a good amount of ink. However, the nozzle check still shows that the PK1 channel is completely missing, while all the other channels are perfect.I wouldn't waste your time replacing the damper assy, very unlikey the cause. The picture is a bit blurry, a faulty head will typically have some nozzle deflection, especially in the vertical lines between the two color patterns, I do not see any. And the fact that you are missing a few magenta nozzles as well, suggests you are having a weak pump cap or maybe it could be very dirty as well as the face of the print head. You could let the head move over to the right and uplug the printer and clean the pump cap area and take a damp paper towel, fold it flat and lay it in the path and move the head over to clean the face of the head...I really think you have a bad pump cap though. Those just went up to $464 from epson. Let me know if you want to give it a try, I can get you one. it is only going to help the overall health of the printer if you ultimately have to replace the head. One way to tell if the pump cap is healthy is to run a cleaning and see if there is fresh ink in the waste ink tank after....you can always put a bit of dry paper towel in the ink holder to see if it gets ink on it
At this point, I really don't know what the problem could be. If the pump cap were faulty, wouldn't the other channels be losing nozzles as well?
PD: I've attached a ZIP file containing a photo of the paper towel in the waste ink tank and the nozzle check pattern so the images wouldn't lose quality.
thank you
Attachments
WeFixPrinters.com
Merchant Member
Because this particular pump cap had dedicated cleaning caps for color pairs, parts of the pump cap can fail and not others. This is why sometimes you can loser certain colors. I assume you have checked to make sure that the ink cartridge is not going empty, a lower or faulty ink cartridge can cause this......I have to believe it is the pump cap. The fact that the other black has returned suggests to me that the head is not failing.
Certainly, the ink in this cartridge is below 50% because I've been using that color heavily over the past few days. I have replacement supplies on the way, and they should arrive next week. Once I replace the cartridge, I'll run another cleaning cycle on that channel and report back here whether the problem has been resolved.Because this particular pump cap had dedicated cleaning caps for color pairs, parts of the pump cap can fail and not others. This is why sometimes you can loser certain colors. I assume you have checked to make sure that the ink cartridge is not going empty, a lower or faulty ink cartridge can cause this......I have to believe it is the pump cap. The fact that the other black has returned suggests to me that the head is not failing.
Thank you for your spot-on suggestions.
Best regards.