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by calvin1calvin on Sun Nov 06, 2016 8:42 pm
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My Epson 3880 was printing just fine until I changed the, No. 2 ink, pk t5801, photo black.  Now when I try to print I get ink spillage in the borders of my prints and on the body of the print.  It is as if the ink cartridge is not seated properly and is leaking through the print nozzle.  I ran the maintenance program, nozzle check and alignment of the printer, removed all ink cartridges to check the mating surface of the cartridge to the printer.  I found the photo black had some leakage around the cartridge.  I did all this last evening and got frustrated and let it sit.  When I returned today the printer was printing with no black globs but gave some funky colors and then gave me a low ink alert on the photo black cartridge.  I changed the cartridge again and it repeated the process of last night with black ink all over the print. 

Has anyone had this problem?  I hate to take the printer for repair because I could replace for the repair costs.  Is there additional troubleshooting I can do?  Thanks for the help.  
 

by Andy800 on Mon Nov 07, 2016 5:09 am
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Hi Calvin

Have a check of the of the purge pad and wiper blade - check they are not covered in excess ink.

Also check that the maintenance tank is okay and not full.

The 3800 and 3880 are known to have a problem with leaky PK cartridges - see http://compuworldaz.blogspot.co.uk/2014 ... ps-of.html for example.

To be honest, if you have the budget I'd swap out the printer for a newer one like the SC-P800.  Or try and locate something like a 4800 or 4880 if you have the space for it, different beast altogether.  Far more economical and built like a tank - even cheaper to run if you use the non OEM inkset from Lyson.


Best Regards

Andy
 

by Royce Howland on Mon Nov 07, 2016 8:42 am
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From the description, I'm pretty certain that you're having a very common problem that hits the 3800 / 3880. There's a physical valve in the unit that switches feed between the PK and MK inks. Both black inks are loaded into the machine all the time, but they feed to the same ink channel on the head. So the printer has to switch the ink feed from one black to the other, purge the previous black out of the line, and re-charge with the other black ink. At the root of this operation is a physical valve which appears to commonly jam, get stuck in a between position, or otherwise break down. This problem often hits right after installing a new black cartridge or a black ink switch, but can happen pretty well any time.

Once that valve has issues, it leads to excess black ink leaking all over prints as well as leaking out inside the printer. Unless that issue is fixed, you'll keep getting wrecked prints as well as seeing most of the black ink bleed straight into the waste tank while the printer sits idle. Your can take the printer to Epson for repair, or get a new printer.
Royce Howland
 

by calvin1calvin on Mon Nov 07, 2016 10:52 am
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Thanks for the "troubleshooting", just got off the phone with the nearest service center and they told me the repair with parts, labor and sales tax was going to be 400 and I would have to provide ink cartridges that were 65% full so they could run their tests after the repair is completed. Most of my inks are at that level but I need to change a couple if I decide to make the repair. I saw where I can purchase a new P800 for 1195, with a 300 mail in rebate which would give me a new printer for 895. Leaning toward replacing the printer with a new one. Have had this printer for a long time and this is the first problem I have encountered and trying to determine if I want to make the repair or spend a little more money and purchase new. My wife is on board with a new printer.
 

by E.J. Peiker on Mon Nov 07, 2016 11:51 am
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calvin1calvin wrote:Thanks for the "troubleshooting", just got off the phone with the nearest service center and they told me the repair with parts, labor and sales tax was going to be 400 and I would have to provide ink cartridges that were 65% full so they could run their tests after the repair is completed.  Most of my inks are at that level but I need to change a couple if I decide to make the repair.  I saw where I can purchase a new P800 for 1195, with a 300 mail in rebate which would give me a new printer for 895.  Leaning toward replacing the printer with a new one.  Have had this printer for a long time and this is the first problem I have encountered and trying to determine if I want to make the repair or spend a little more money and purchase new.  My wife is on board with a new printer.
I'm with you, my 3880 is still working well most of the time but does act up occasionally.  When it does need repair, I'm just scrapping it and getting a new one.  Throwing hundreds of dollars at an old printer when you can get a brand new one for only a few hundred more than most repairs seems silly.
 

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