Epson EcoTank Clogging Troubleshoot Part 1 - Not All clogs are Printhead Problems!

Today, I will be working on the Epson EcoTank and looking at a particularly strange problem that I had a customer report about. For a more detailed demonstration, you can feel free to watch this video.

This customer said that she could get the first page to print correctly, but the second page would be clogged. It would end up printing either with stripes or a lack of ink. This blog will demonstrate that not all clogs are caused by an issue with the printhead.

When most people encounter a persistent clog, they assume that the printhead is the issue and needs to be flushed, but this isn’t always the case. If the printhead isn’t causing the clog, then flushing it out with a cleaning solution isn’t going to fix the problem.

Run a Nozzle Check

With this client, I suspected the issue had nothing to do with the printhead clogging. Because of this, the first thing I decided to do was run a nozzle check. If you’re following along with the video, you’ll see that the nozzle check went perfectly fine. Every line came out perfectly clean and clear.

If you flush your printhead and the problem doesn’t improve, stop trying to troubleshoot the printhead. The problem is most likely your ink supply. To know for sure, we need to check inside. To open this particular model, you need to remove two screws: one on the far left and one on the far right.

You'll see two screws on each side, but you only want to do the two farthest ones, located closest to the edge. For more elaboration, go to this timestamp on my video. After you remove those two screws, you should be able to lift the cover. Do it slowly, and don’t lift it more than about a 45-degree angle.

Don’t Open the Lid too Far

There are three cables connecting the cover to the rest of the printer. We want those to stay where they are and remain connected. If you lift the lid too high or too quickly, you might end up accidentally yanking those cables out and causing further issues down the road.

You may want to get something to help you keep the cover propped open. I just used a roll of paper towels for the demonstration I did in the video. I forgot to say it when I was demonstrating, but you must make sure that you turn the printer’s power off before doing anything further.

I needed to move the printhead to the middle, but as you’ll see here, it was locked. To unlock the printhead’s position, allowing you to move it into the right location, you need to locate the large pizza wheel on the left side of that bar. Gently rotate it clockwise four to six times.

At first, it will still seem like it’s locked in place. The trick is to give it a slight push to the right before you try to pull it to the left. Use your finger to pull the tabs in, and then you can remove the damper.

Check the Dampers

In the video, you can see that my dampers looked pretty good, but you can use a syringe to check yours by following the steps here. Ideally, the ink flow into the needle will be smooth. If a vacuum starts to form, then something is wrong.

If all the dampers have the same negative result, ensure the syringe isn’t the issue. To do this, I took a razor blade to cut the nozzle at an angle. If it’s still hard to suck any ink out of the damper, then you know that’s your problem.

Is it the Tube?

Next, you must determine whether the problem is the tube or the damper. You may need to use a syringe adapter, but start by inserting it into the end of the tube once you remove the damper. If you try to draw from the line and get resistance, the tube is the problem.

That means you have some kind of clog or a kink in the tube. You can usually fix this by drawing ink out with the syringe until it’s able to flow smoothly. If you aren’t able to unclog it just by sucking it out with the syringe, then it will become a bit more complicated.

You can remove both ends of the tube and try from the other side to ensure that nothing is blocking the tube. From there, you can work backward to the tank.

If the tube is clogged, it’s a pretty easy fix. Simply remove both ends so they’re not connected to anything, then blow air or attempt to flush a liquid through it. If that doesn’t work, then I can almost guarantee that there’s an air hole.

I hope this blog helped! For more helpful printer DIY tips and tricks, follow me on YouTube at Kevin at BCH. Happy printing! If you’d like to see a video walkthrough of this process, click here: Epson EcoTank Clogging Troubleshoot Part 1