Over the past few years I've used this procedure on a dozen print heads of five different Canon printers using the BCI-6 or the CLI-8 cartridge and I've been able to clear the clogged ink jets every time . The carriages have a printed circuit board on them that you need to be careful not to damage.

I refill all my own cartridges for my personal iP4200 and 6000D printers, and I've had plenty empty tanks to work with. At work we have two i9900 eight color printers (adding red and green to the six common inks) and we buy the BCI inks by the case. The CLI cartridge can be refilled too but the printer will not tell you when the ink gets low. You have to tell it to stop monitoring the refilled tanks to keep the printer from giving you an error message and requiring that you press the paper feed button every time you print. The error message gives you a modification to stop the ink monitor but then you don't know that the cartridge is empty until it stops printing that color, so it's important to keep a full cartridge handy so that when one runs out, you can replace it right away and run some ink through it. I've had a print head clog when I run out of ink and didn't replace the cartridge and get some liquid (ink) back into the ink jets. I have a guide on refilling ink cartridges if you are interested, and you can save a bundle! It  costs about five cents worth of ink to refill a $12.00 cartridge if you buy ink in volume. If your printer is the type that has individual ink cartridges they can be refilled. I'm not sure about the ones that have all the colors in the same cartridge. Anyway, on to cleaning your print head...

First, remove the ink cartridges from the carriage and seal the orifice where the ink is released on each. You are sealing them from drying out, not leaking, so you can just place a strip of cellophane tape over the hole and sit them tape side up, so that the ink won’t run out. (Or simply wrap them all in a damp cloth... one that you plan to discard. The ink will leach out onto anything that it touches.)

Second, raise the mechanism that holds the print head and ink cartridges in place and remove the entire print head from the printer. Run hot water over the print head until it runs clear. This may take a few minutes, because you have to rinse all the colors out, not just the one (usually black) that is not printing. If you don’t rinse them all well, you will have a rainbow of colored water getting all over everything. Place the print head in hot water and let it soak for half an hour or so. Then, concentrating on the clogged passage or passages, try to force the hot water into the opening that the ink flows into. You can do this by holding it under the faucet and using water pressure if you don’t have any other way. I used a large plastic syringe that came with my ink cartridge refill kit. Without the needle attached, it’s tip is about the same size as the opening in the print head, and I got a lot of pressure on it by holding it tight and pushing hard on the syringe, forcing the water through. If you get more color out, you know that you are doing good. Keep it up until there’s no color. Then let the print head drain for a few minutes and dry it off, but don’t let it dry out... blow as much water as possible from the ink passages or your first prints will be watery... I used canned compressed air that’s sold at computer stores and it worked pretty well. A compressor at 10-20 psi works better.

After they are reasonably dry, replace the ink cartridges and print. It may take a page or two to get the ink flowing. If it works, print something using a lot of black ink (or the color that was clogged) to run some ink through it. The ink itself flowing through the ink jet seems to help dissolve and dissipate any remaining dried ink particles and help keep the path free of clogs. Print something every day for a few days, and try not to go over a week or two without printing something. I have most of my clogged print head problems when I go extended times between printing. I have a Xerox laser printer for black and white printing, so I sometimes go too long between prints with the Canon, and when I do print from it, I use less black ink than any other. It has always been my black ink passage that clogs.

It’s really not as hard as it may sound. Each time you clean your print head, it gets a little easier and you get a little faster... I can do a basic cleaning in about 10 minutes if I skip the soak process, and it usually works just as well.

If the above basic cleaning does not work you may have to get more serious about it.

Follow the above procedure, but after you dry the print head, blow out the ink passage that's clogged, put a few drops of solvent in it and let it set 10 minutes. The solvent will evaporate fast, so add some every minute or so to make sure it doesn’t dry out. Then try to force some of the solvent through the ink passage using whatever you have... a straw and lung-power if nothing else... but you need to force it through in order to get past the clog and dislodge any ink particles that may not have dissolved. Leave it a couple of hours in a closed container of solvent if necessary. The solvent I first used came with my ink refill kit, I think it was for cleaning up ink. However, any non-petroleum based fluid that’s not too strong should work. Alcohol or something that evaporates fast. I used 180 proof Everclear once, and it worked fine. Acetone may melt plastic, so I don’t recommend lacquer thinner or the like.

I’ve used all of the above methods in every combination over the past few years and I’ve never failed to clear the clog... eventually. If you ever have to replace the print head, when you see the cost you’ll see why it’s worth all the trouble to fix your old one..

Feel free to let me know if these methods work for you, and any variations you may come up with, and I'll update my review with the best methods and any innovations.

Good luck.

Joe L.

Houston, TX