Need Help E074 Err CR2 overcurrent - Mutoh 1204

[David40]

Would appreciate any assistance diagnosing this issue. I was getting this error intermittently before I had any print quality issues. The error never happened while printing, it only happened occasionally when the print head was coming off the capping station. I recently replaced the printhead and capping station, and naturally because the parts are new everything is nice and tight, it takes a bit more force to get the head on and off the the cap top. Now the error happens every time I turn the printer on as soon as the carriage moves off the cap top. I can't even run many of the diagnostics because they involve initializing the carriage which immediately throws the error and freezes. If I leave the carriage to the left when I turn on the printer it will move very slowly back to the capping station, but once it gets there and encounters even the slightest resistance it throws the error. I suspect the CR motor is going South on me but I am open to any suggestions or ideas.
Thanks

 

[GAC05]

check the bracket that holds the head-lock. It's al little tab that pops up to lock the head into the capping station.
They get bent over time and it only has to be a little out of alignment to throw up that error. You can bend it back by hand - it needs to be straight up and down. This happened on my 1304 & 1624x.

 

[David40]

They must use a different head lock bracket on the 1204, it's solid and there is nothing that might hit it. Can't budge it. The lock is releasing OK and the carriage moves freely except for when the head parking/un-parking. The old Cap Top gasket looks flat compared to the new one so I may just revert to the old Cap Top so there is not so much resistance.

 

[GAC05]

They must use a different head lock bracket on the 1204, it's solid and there is nothing that might hit it. Can't budge it. The lock is releasing OK and the carriage moves freely except for when the head parking/un-parking. The old Cap Top gasket looks flat compared to the new one so I may just revert to the old Cap Top so there is not so much resistance.

I looked at my 1304 and think it has the same head lock as the 1204. The bracket only has to be slightly out of place to cause problems. Maybe pull it out - clean it and tweak the bracket a little to see if it clears up.

You really want to use the new cap top to make sure the head is sealing completely to keep the new head from plugging up.
Did you adjust the head height/leveling after replacing the head?
I put a new head and maintenance station in my 1624 recently and although I didn't loosen up any of the height and slant brackets the new head was way to low. I used a feeler gauge to raise and level the head (didn't have the $500.00 Mutoh head jig).
One way you should be able to find out if it is too low is to try and park/unpark the head with the orange height lever in the up position. If it works when the head is high and not when it is in the normal low position then you could be right about the cap holding too tight and causing the printer to error out.

 

[David40]

It was really stiff and hanging up badly at first and don't know what it was getting stuck on, it was not the head release, but I manually cycled the carriage about 25 times in the high and low settings. It's pretty smooth now and not hanging up, but I still get the error. Another thing I noticed is the new capping station makes a terrible noise when it operates, like the gears are grinding/slipping. Don't have a clue what is going on with that. Tomorrow I am going to reinstall the old capping station with a new cap top and see what happens.

 

[GAC05]

Did you spring for an OEM station or one of the off-brand ones? I have not had good luck with the cheaper models - seemed to give up way to fast.
So if the head is getting off the capping station smoothly now - what about the encoder strip? A little bit of ink or dirt will also cause the same 074 error. If you clean that and there is still an issue try cleaning the strip reader on the carriage head. One screw holds it in and you can use the edge of a credit card wrapped in a cleaning cloth and a little alcohol to remove the gunk that can build up in there.

 

[David40]

It's supposed to be an OEM but I am not sure. If the old capping station works then I'll be returning the new one for refund or replacement. I cleaned the sensor and encoder strip, and I even reversed it so the trailing end was the leading end. No change.

 

[GAC05]

Sounds like a good plan. I am not sure what else to look at.
One last thing you might try with that head lock ( I know, I can't let it go) would be to tape it down or remove it and see if the error is still there. Seems unlikely but won't hurt anything if nothing else helps.

Good luck with the fix and post back if you find the problem.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[David40]

Here is the latest. The new capping station crapped out completely and no longer works at all. I reinstalled the old capping station and carriage moves as it should without hanging, BUT when the capping station is cycling the wiper only goes half way out and gets stuck there, which then causes the error. I have to turn the gears by hand to get it out of the way so I can park the head. It may be worn out or it could be the capping station needs to be set to a particular stage prior to installing it, but I didn't see anything about that in the manual. So it would appear I am down untill I can get another capping station. I'll update when that happens.

 

[David40]

New revelation..... I decided to give the whole capping system a good look and observe the operation closely. I noticed something odd about the cap tops. The new ones have a couple of little hooks sticking out, one towards the operator and the other toward the wiper. What's happening is the one hook sometimes hangs the carriage, while the other one hooks onto the wiper holder and stops it half way. The wiper hanging up on the hook must be the gear stripping I heard. So this may have fried the motor in the new capping station. After discovering all this I took a box cutter and cut off the little hooks on the cap top and everything is working fine, no more ER074 error. You would think that somewhere along the line someone would have warned about needing to remove those little hooks off the cap top.

 

[David40]

Latest Update: First off I want to say that after removing/installing about six times I have become very proficient at swapping out a capping station. I can do it in less than fifteen minutes.
Bottom line is, the first new capping station I bought directly from China would not work and was the cause of the CR error. It was supposed to be compatible but obviously different enough so that it would not function properly. I purchased a different one from a local US source and it works perfectly. Pumps great and no CR errors.