Epson Stylus Photo R2000 print problem.

Joined
Mar 30, 2010
Messages
1,553
Reaction score
164
Points
63
Location
NW Wiltshire England
Your Mac's Specs
Mid 2010 MBP 13, 8 gig mem, 2 int disks 500gig SSD, 1Tb SSHD . 2010 iMac, 8 gig, 2 Tb SSHD. iMac M1
The Epson Stylus Photo R2000 is an A3+ 8 cartridge printer only, not a multi job.

We have had the printer for a number of years now and it has given good service, BUT it has now developed very poor print quality.

So far I have tried the head clean program with no increase in quality. So I had a look on the web to see if I could find a solution. I came to the conclusion that I was going to have to get a head cleaning kit and wash the heads through. I settled on a JETlifetech kit as it seemed a reasonable one.

I went through their procedure and did the head clean after to flush the cleaner fluid through and tried a test page. The Cyan cartridge was giving a solid warning so it was changed for a new one before I did the print test. It did the test but with no cyan printing.

Another head clean and print test, still no cyan. The outcome is that now the cyan totally refuses to print although when I looked at the supply levels the cyan ink level is decreasing after each head clean run. I have no idea where the ink is going?

I had wondered if it could be possible that I had left the fluid in the print head for too long, about an hour, with the possibility that it had drained for the cyan head and that there was an air lock? So this morning I did another flush with the cleaning fluid to prime the head and just left it for 5 minutes, then yet another head clean and test page. There was no difference and I am coming to the conclusion that there is more than a blockage in that head?

If anyone has any experience with this sort of thing I would be very grateful for any help?
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
John:

My experience with that type of problem is that cleaning the heads almost never works. The head is probably defective and no amount of cleaning is going to bring it back to life. Time to retire your Epson printer and look for another.
 
OP
Jonzjob
Joined
Mar 30, 2010
Messages
1,553
Reaction score
164
Points
63
Location
NW Wiltshire England
Your Mac's Specs
Mid 2010 MBP 13, 8 gig mem, 2 int disks 500gig SSD, 1Tb SSHD . 2010 iMac, 8 gig, 2 Tb SSHD. iMac M1
I had the same idea Chas. We have had it for a good while now and it's been very good and I had got it to print off some large photos.

I have now ordered another inkjet printer and it doesn't have any cartridges. An Epson ET-2750. A bit expensive but the low ink costs should make up for the price.

I had a printer a while back and put a CISS ink system on it and this one is pretty well the same, with refillable ink tanks, but integral jobbies so I look forward to seeing just how well it runs.

I was very impressed with 'the Cartridge People' were I got the last lot of cartridges from as they have reimbursed everything that I will be returning. A nice thing to get good service in these strange times.

Thank you for your advice mate (y)(y)

P.S. Thank you for moving this thread. I had looked at the heading and thought that it may have been for other Apple kit, but at that time I was about ready to chuck that printer out of our front door!!
 
OP
Jonzjob
Joined
Mar 30, 2010
Messages
1,553
Reaction score
164
Points
63
Location
NW Wiltshire England
Your Mac's Specs
Mid 2010 MBP 13, 8 gig mem, 2 int disks 500gig SSD, 1Tb SSHD . 2010 iMac, 8 gig, 2 Tb SSHD. iMac M1
After a boat load of messing about with head cleans I got a head flushing kit and flushed everything through, but to no avail. So the next thing was to take the head out and flush it thorugh over the sink in our utility room and see if there were any blockages. There was a little resistance on a couple of colours but they all seemed OK when I had finished so the head went back in. It was a much easier job than I had imagined it would be.

I put a new OEM yellow cartridge in as it was almost empty and tried it again. This time no yellow! So this morning I took the yellow cartridge out again and flushed just that one and left it over lunch time. Back went the cartridge and I then tried printing a block of yellow with the idea of flushing out the cleaning fluid without haveing to waste loads more ink with a head clean. I printed out a number of pages with nothing but yellow, but it would not print.

I did another test page. Bingo, the yellow was there OK. so I tried the yellow block again. ! I did the yellow block in Open Office Writer. I tried changing it to green and it printed out blue as the yellow wasn't there.

So I tried another test page and all of the colours are there and the yellow is definitely printing there.

I wondered if it could be something in Open Office so I printed off a photo, in the economy mode, this one below is the file.
John & siskin 1.jpg

It came out like this

Scan 3.jpeg

No yellow. So it isn't Open Office.

So, if anyone has any idea why it will print OK from the Epson test print and not from my MacBook then I would love to hear it pretty pretty please. Preferably before they come in their white coats?

P.S. the bird is a siskin. It was recovering after flying in to one of our windows. It made its way from my arm up to my chest and stayed there for about 20 minutes or so. It was beautiful!
 

IWT


Joined
Jan 23, 2009
Messages
10,290
Reaction score
2,230
Points
113
Location
Born Scotland. Worked all over UK. Live in Wales
Your Mac's Specs
M2 Max Studio Extra, 32GB memory, 4TB, Sonoma 14.4.1 Apple 5K Retina Studio Monitor
John, I have no idea, which SWMBO says is my stats quo, but I do adore the coloured picture of the siskin on your arm. Beautiful.

All the best for 2021.

Ian
 
OP
Jonzjob
Joined
Mar 30, 2010
Messages
1,553
Reaction score
164
Points
63
Location
NW Wiltshire England
Your Mac's Specs
Mid 2010 MBP 13, 8 gig mem, 2 int disks 500gig SSD, 1Tb SSHD . 2010 iMac, 8 gig, 2 Tb SSHD. iMac M1
Oh well Ian, in for a penny?
John & siskin c.JPG

That's where the little perisher finished up until it had recovered enough to say bye, bye. I had to do that a lot more time than I would have ever wished, but it was wonderful to help them and see them fly off when they were ready. So much more important than a bloody printer !
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top