Canon Printhead FAQs

The printhead delivers very small drops of ink onto the paper. The ink from the cartridge is transported via small tubes. Heating elements heat the tubes, creating a small bubble of ink. The heating element determines the size of the drop to be applied to the paper.

There are a few symptoms that may indicate printhead failure or a clogged printhead. If the following symptoms continue even after replacing the ink cartridges and trying the troubleshooting steps in your user’s manual or those listed below, you may need to replace your printhead:

• Pages come out blank, or you see poor print quality
• Pages you print appear to be missing colors
• Colors on the printed page are quite a bit different from what shows on the screen
• Horizontal white lines, light-colored lines, or light streaks appear throughout the page

After hours of printing, the heating elements may fail after being turned on and off hundreds of thousands of times. The printhead can also become clogged or blocked with paper debris or solidified ink. If your print quality is poor or your printer will not print at all, it may be time to change your printhead.

If you are having problems before or after you change your printhead, it sometimes helps to print test pages of different colors, do a printhead cleaning, or both. When doing a printhead cleaning you should refer to the user’s manual or go to Canon’s website: https://www.usa.canon.com/support.

Once there, select Printers from the Category menu, select your printer series on the Product Type menu, then the model number of your printer on the Model menu. On the support page that opens, select “Step-by-Step Troubleshooting.” Generally, the procedure will be to follow the steps below, stopping if printing returns to normal:

1. Perform a printhead cleaning.
2. Print the nozzle check pattern.
3. Repeat steps 1-2 up to two times.
4. Perform a printhead deep cleaning. (Note: the printhead deep cleaning procedure uses a lot of ink.)
5. Print the nozzle check pattern. (This will print a test page using all nozzles in the printhead.)
6. Repeat steps 3-4 up to two times.

If the output is still not normal, you may need a new printhead; or, if you just installed a new printhead, it may be defective. If you purchased it from Precision Roller, please contact us to request a replacement.

For quick access to your printer’s utilities (drivers), do the following:

1. Navigate to your computer’s Control Panel (click the start button and type “control”).
2. In the Control Panel, if you see “Devices and Printers” click it; otherwise, click “Printers and Other Hardware,” then click “Devices and Printers.”
3. This will bring up a page showing your installed printers. Right-click the printer icon, and on the pop-up menu, click “Properties.” This will bring up the printer utility. Look for the Maintenance tab and follow the cleaning prompts.

A great way to keep your printheads from clogging is regular use. Be sure to use the color and black inks at least once a week. Keeping the printer clean of household and paper dust also helps minimize clogging. We recommend that you carefully blow excess dust from the printer using canned air about once a month (depending on how much printing you do, and how dusty the area is around the printer). Do not use a vacuum or high-pressure compressed air as these have greater risk of damaging your printer.

Simply click on the link below and find your model of printer. If you do not see your model, please call or email us and we will do our best to find the right printhead for your printer.

• Our Canon Printheads Store