Marks on paper from Epson 4800

My 4800 just started showing two parallel lines about 1/4 inch apart on the right hand side of a landscape oriented 8.5x11 print, about 1 inch in from the paper edge. They are very faint lines that look like a roller or some other very faint rub mark. I ran a print on the roll paper just prior to printing with the 8.5x11 and I don't see any marks on those prints.

I am using Hahn. Photo Rag Satin 310 and Epson Enhanced Matte. Marks show up on both papers. I have run dozens of prints with these papers before and never had an issue.

Any ideas? Thanks!

This may be too easy an answer, but have you checked the printer using the printer Utilities to check for a clogged head? A clogged head can give some ink on the paper but also have a blob hanging on the jet that appears on the paper as a line. And also for head alignment? Both these utilities print out a pattern that you can physically see. Are the patterns fine but you still have the two lines? Have you tried form feeding paper through the printer multiple times and see if the lines appear even though you are not using ink? Also, what color are the lines? This could give you a clue. If they are too faint to tell the color, then run the same piece of paper through multiple times in the same direction to build up the "color". Hope this might help you or someone else with a problem that the above DOES solve!

Troup

Also, you should look at the ink cloth or "sponge" that absorbs ink from under the print head. I have had trouble with this on a different Epson printer. The area was full of ink and it was getting smudged onto the print head which built up at a place on the paper path or a roller and I had to gently absorb this "extra" ink out of the sponge. You have to be VERY careful how you absorb the ink out of the sponges or you can damage them. Then, I had to use wipes (be careful which you use) to clean the paper path and rollers. This particular printer has had a ton of use, so I was not surprised that the "ink well sponges" were basically overflowing.

Troup (again)

It sounds lilke the large feed roller. Mind you, I'm going off experience with my R2400, not the 4800, but I imagine they share a similar roller. After I manually rolled and cleaned the roller my problem stopped. It's the large roller on the right side as you look down in the top feed slot. It's not actually round, but it looks like it from that view.

I used to have this problem periodically back in the days when I had an Epson printer. If I caught it early enough one or two cleaning cycles would take care of it. If I didn't catch it early enough, it took one or two deep cleaning cycles. Again, this was an older printer and the problems may not be the same. It is worth a try though. The ink used in a couple of cleaning cycles is far less expensive than a new print assembly, or a new printer. Especially when you really don't need them.