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Output issue on Mutoh VJ

Today this output issue arose on my 16-year-old Mutoh Value jet 1204. It seems to be consistently off. In one image I printed solid C,M,Y,K squares. Any idea where to start to diagnose this issue?
 

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I really don't want to just throw parts at it. I would like to understand the issue. Maybe I should give a little current history of the machine.

I'm currently on my 3rd print head. The newest head in my machine was replaced 3 years back and has a nearly flawless nozzle check, the current maintenance station is less than a year old, and is a genuine MUTOH maintenance station.
 
I'm honestly due for a computer upgrade; my current rig has been sluggish. I'm attempting to do a dry install of Flexi to see if it may perhaps fix the issue (however I'm getting some errors and cannot delete the Sai program). My flexi has been acting buggy recently, I'm wondering if this is maybe a RIP issue?
 

Solventinkjet

DIY Printer Fixing Guide
That's going to be an electrical issue most of the time in my experience. In some cases it can be an encoder issue but usually you get more of a stair stepping effect in that case. The first thing I would do is print the pallet in the test print menu. It's a file that's stored in the printer's memory and doesn't require RIPing or being sent through a computer. If that prints the same way as your example prints, the issue is definitely on the printer side. If it doesn't it could be a computer/data transfer issue.

The first thing to look at on the printer end of things is the head cables. Make sure they aren't damaged, have ink splatter on the silver leads, or corrosion. Also make sure they haven't been knocked out of place and crooked. Just make sure that before you do anything with electronics on this machine, unplug the main power cable, hit the power button, and wait 15 minutes to avoid popping the head fuse.

If the head cables look good or you replace them and it doesn't fix the issue, it could be anything from the head itself, the long trailing cables, or the main board.

As I mentioned before, it could also be an encoder issue. It won't hurt to try cleaning the encoder strip and air dusting the sensor. But, in my experience, this is going to be electrical.
 
Thank you very much for those pointers. The test print started out badly, then got better upon completion (attached a pic of the test print). I tried a print of the CMYK blocks after the test print and I got the same wrong output as previously.

The encoder looked clean, I wiped it down with a microfiber towel, and greased the rails. There was a little ink splatter on the head cable that I cleaned. I tried another print of the blocks with the same outcome.

I have to run into town on a job. While I am away, I have the printer unplugged to power down. When I return, I have a brand new head cable that I plan to install.
 

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