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Today's update brings one clog fixed... one to go!

My brand new Canon Pro 9000 printer had been misbehaving with a clogged Photo Magenta print head. I had been scouring the net for ideas about how to fix it. And I found one! Since the print head pops out on the Canons, I followed the suggested 'ammonia cure' on the Yahoo Canon printer board. And I am delighted to say It works!!!

I am totally amazed and indebted to this amazing fix for a clogged print head. The test pattern difference is shown in the image above... the before and after. I'd probably recommend trying the Windex and distilled water soaking before going to the ammonia. But if you're out of other options... it just might work.

I tried everything before trying this ammonia overnight soaking. I ran the cleaning cycle 8 times, I did the deep clean 2 times. I took out the print head and sprayed it with Windex at least three times. I tried soaking it in hot distilled water for 10 minutes... but nothing I did made one tiny bit of improvement.

I was skeptical after all these failures... but soaking it overnight in ammonia worked like a charm!! I also understand that soaking in Windex overnight works well too, and may be less harsh on the print head. That might be what I'll try next time.

I also think blowing out the ink from above, using a computer compressed air can is key in clearing out blockage. It's very easy to do with the straw attached and touching the pad where the ink cartridge usually sits.

So now my printer is back in business again... hooray! And when my printer goes down, my whole operation goes down.

Below is the technique I followed... in the event some poor Canon printer soul finds this message in a bottle drifiting on the seas of the internet.

jn

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From the Yahoo Canon Printer board:

I have had occurrences of the very sort of nozzle clogging that your nozzle check pattern is showing; as a matter of fact they have been far worse. I just got a used head that made your picture look nice and that head is now completely unclogged using the process that I am listing below .

Here is what I did for that head and have done before for other heads.

1. I took the cartridges out of the print head, and the printhead out of the machine.

2. I put pure ammonia (if the clog was not too bad, I sometimes use Windex or head cleaner) in the place where the cartridge sits in the color slot that was showing the streak pattern.

3. I placed distilled water in the other color slots to keep them moist.

4. I sat the print head on a lid that I have that is perfect for catching run off or soaking the bottom of the printhead.

5. I covered the print head and lid with a plastic bag to stop evaporation and left the head with the water and ammonia overnight (8 hours) to loosen up.

6. In the morning, I took compressed air and from the top side put the straw right over the fabric and gave the clogged slot about three good blasts until the whole length of underside of the bad color showed ink coming out of it.

7. I then rinse the whole bottom side with distilled water, use a lint free cloth to dry it off, reinstall the printhead, and I am back in business.

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Also, I've discovered the world's most in-depth online forum for solving printer problems!

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/

This site has amazing information about inkjet printers of every sort. It's a real gold mine of information and I'm sure I'll be frequenting it's lists to learn how to keep my expensive inkjet printers running.