Epson Sylus 1800 - pink cast problem solved

This may help someone else in the same predicament. I was following the settings for the instructions and was getting wonderful prints with my new 1800. Suddenly, after following those exact same settings, every print had a pinkish cast to it. I tried variations on the settings as well as the "Windows Basic Printing"-- all results the same. Now this is what is interesting: Although some of the ink levels were low, they still had ink. Usually, as with the 2200, printing simply ceases when an ink cartridge runs out, with ample warning. In this case with ink still in supply in all the cartridges according to the printer popup box. I finally resorted to a cartridge nozzle test in "Maintenance", and found that the cyan was not printing. It was not empty according to the ink levels, just not producing. Replacing the cartridge solved the problem. This is different from before, as you would think that you would have to be totally out of ink before there was a problem, but with the 1800, printing continued, just w/o that cyan. Maybe I didn't shake the cartridges enough before installing, or the ink got clogged as it neared the bottom. For anyone interested, if this happens, maybe it's not your settings, but the inks to check. This might save a few bucks of testing and frustration.

Thanks Mark for the heads up.

Very interesting Mark. I too have an 1800 and I have had some serious problems with the colours. I will check the inks.

Eddie - Hopefully this goes without saying, but you monitor is calibrated, isn't it? If not, that also may be part of your color issues.

Running a nozzle check is always step one for me with my 1800. Better to burn a little ink on a sheet of plain paper than half a sheet of ink on an expensive piece of super B.

You may have just had a clog. With mine they were more frequent in the first cartridge set than later. I would try a head cleaning first. Changing the cartridge still wastes ink in all the cartridges because it primes all the heads. Priming seems to use less ink than a cleaning, but it still uses some.

Mel-

Yes, that may be simply problems with clogging in the first cartridges as they get to the bottom, (hoepfully!). I did have this problem again, this time a green cast. None of the cartridges was empty, but the magenta was low. Replaced it and solved the problem. But, the head cleaning tip will be heded next time this happends- to save ink and money. Thanks for the tip. Regarding monitor calibration- I can see that for fine tuning. But these casts are grossly out of whack. The way I look at it is if I can view lots of images on the internet and see beautiful perfect colors on your own monitor, then it must be fine, or at least in the ball park. Still a great printer and twice as fast as my 2200.