102 Chapter 11

Routine Maintenance
When Printing Becomes Faint or Colors are Incorrect
When printing becomes faint or colors are incorrect, even if ink remains in the ink tanks, the Print
Head nozzles are probably clogged. Follow the procedures below to clean the nozzles.
If the ruled lines are shifted after running the Print Head maintenance, align the Print Head.

zIf the ruled lines are shifted

Note Before printing the nozzle check pattern or cleaning the Print Head, check the
following;
– Open the Scanning Unit (Printer Cover), and make sure that all the ink tanks
click into place and then their lamps light red.
– If any one of the lamps is flashing, the associated ink tank is empty or
running low. See “Getting the Ink Level Information” on page97.
If an ink tank lamp is flashing even though ink remains in that ink tank, it is
inserted in the wrong position. Make sure that the correct ink tank color is
inserted in each position. Open the Scanning Unit (Printer Cover) and make
sure all the ink tank lamps are lit. See “Replacing an Ink Tank” on page 96.
– If the ink tank lamp is unlit, press the mark on the ink tank firmly until it
clicks to fully insert it. Make sure that all packaging material is peeled off the
ink tank. See “Replacing Ink Tanks” on page 98.

Step 1

See “Printing the Nozzle Check Pattern” on page103
After Print Head
cleaning, print the
nozzle check
pattern.
If missing lines or white stripes appear

Step 2

See“Print Head Cleaning” on page 106
If the problem remains after performing Print Head
cleaning twice

Step 3

See“Print Head Deep Cleaning” on page107
Note If Print Head Deep cleaning does not resolve the problem, contact the Canon
Customer Care Center.

Step 1

See“Aligning Print Head automatically” on page 108