cyan cap not holding cleaning fluid

[gabagoo]

It's been about 2 months now that my cyan cap has not held cleaning fluid for a nozzle wash. I clean the capping station every morning and clean the heads every other day. Once a week nozzle wash. I see no issues with cyan print and wonder how dangerous it is to not get this attended to at this point? What issues might pop up that show no signs until it is too late?

 

[SightLine]

If I remember right you are running a JV3. Not good..... pretty much means one of your pumps is taking a dump. That or you possibly have a leak below the cap in the line to the pump or the line in the pump. The thing is, if it cannot hold the link to allow fluid to sit in the cap then it cannot effectively create enough suction to pump ink the way it should either. If you really wanted to string it along you could pull the pump cover and switch the line to that cap with the other cyan one every day. Best to just replace the pump though, oh and find an OEM Original Mimaki pump too..... I have tried at least 10 aftermarket pumps (most at different times and were different makers) and every single one has ultimately been garbage. The best lasted a whole 8 months. An original pump will last several years.

If a JV33 the same still applies but it could also be the capping top itself and there is only one pump on a JV33.

 

[gabagoo]

Thanks, will call the tech next week to change the pump....

 

[SightLine]

Easy as pie to change a pump out yourself. Literally just a single screw to install it plus a half dozen screws on the back cover. I'd still get it taken care of either way. Don't want print quality to start suffering or risk that head getting clogged up from drying out - if the cap will not hold fluid then it is not sealing it airtight when the heads are parked which is needed to keep the ink wet on the head.

 

[gabagoo]

Still need to deal with this, but today I got a little scare as I cleaned the heads and I also have a low magenta cartridge which seems to be taking too long to empty. In any case I started printing and only Magenta was produced. I stopped the printer and ran a print test and absolutely no cyan or yellow. I freaked a bit and ran a nozzle wash but knowing that cyan was not holding the liquid I figured I had pushed the envelope too far.
After a 30 minute wash I ran the test again and still no cyan or yellow.

It then became apparent that the true cure was to simply shut the printer off and reboot. All colours firing perfectly once again. What's with that?

Definitely getting a new pump in the next week.