Canon MG5650 not printing black - Please help.

GlowingShadows

Hi,
I'd be grateful if anyone could advise me in regards to some printer issues I'm having. The printer is roughly 6 months old, initially I used the genuine inks supplied but these depleted quite quickly and genuine replacements were quite expensive, so I used compatibles I found on eBay.
In efforts to save ink, whenever printing PDF documents, I ticked the save ink option, this meant the documents printed a little washed out/different from the on screen colours but this wasn't really a major concern. I printed PDF documents in majority. However I've now noticed when printing from word , where the save ink option isnt available, anything black will not print. The same issues occurs when photocopying on the B/W option, or a page of black text. As I've had the save ink option enabled for ages, I'm not sure exactly when it became faulty.
I've tried changing the ink cartridges despite them being full.
Canon advised me that in the compatible cartridges there is no lubricant supplied in the ink, and the printer head may be blocked? They've also advised if the issue is caused by using compatible inks, they'll refuse to repair and charge a callout fee.
I've tried the deep clean settings several times without effect.
Does anyone have any suggestions to fix please? This is working out to be a rather expensive printer unfortunately.

TIA

JJ_Egan

Are Canon cleaning cartridges available for that model .
Not knowing the layout all i can suggest is the routine i use .
One check ink is actually at the base of the cartridge . If a removable inkjet holder remove and use a damp kitchen roll to clean the jet base .Put a tiny drop or two of water on the ink channels that the head feeds into .

Your problem is a well known one for some of the cheaper compatibles .

GlowingShadows

Hi, Thanks for the reply.
By cartridge cleaner, are you referring to something like this?
Cant actually post links yet but googling 'Black printhead cleaning cartridge for Canon MG5650 Pixma printer' gets you a result for city ink supplies.
Can't actually see any instructions, how to use it (sorry if thats a silly query). Is it just a case of inserting it?
So provided the problem gets fixed, would you recommend not using compatibles at all?

JJ_Egan

They just replace the cartridge and you run a few cycles .
Compatible i would look for decent quality rather than cheap .
Something like Swiss Ink .

GlowingShadows

I assume you mean the print cleaning cycles? I'll just purchase the ink cleaning cartridge now. Thanks

[Deleted User]

It does sound like a blocked print head.

This is why I avoid printers with built in print heads.

Yes, cartridges with print heads cost a bit more, but at least you get a fresh print head, every time you change an ink cartridge.