Cannon mpc400 cant get black ink to work

Not normally but the black print head nozzles maybe blocked.
Inkjet printers need to be used frequently to prevent ink drying out and blocking the print head nozzles.
If the print head cleaning maintenance routine does not clear the blockages, then print head needs replacing, but it may be expensive.
It may be more cost effective to buy a later model and better printer than replace the print head.

With the Canon MX860 you can removed the print head assembly quite easily and clean it with water. I have posted a youtube video for your reference.

Hi

Try to clean it manually by removing the ink cartridge and then clean the print head with softcloth with rubbing alcohol. Then rub again the printhead into a plain paper until ink flows. Then try to print again.

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If you have taken it apart that far then you are way ahead of the game. My suggestion would be to clean the head or anything the ink touches in a vinegar/water solution. The vinegar dissolves any dried ink whereas the soap may actually gum things up. If that doesn't work or improve things I would say that your print head has a seal problem. The replacement print heads are worth more than a new printer so you can probably figure out whats cheaper to do.

I was having the same problem and I put the printer through the head cleaning and auto head check and it now seems to be working fine.

i have an mp170 all in one and when you fill the cartriges they dont show up as full cannon put a chip in the cartridge to con people into buying new ones try siting the cartridges in warm water for a few hours then blot the cartridge with tisue paper if it dont blot out the ink the cartride is finnished and you need a new one .To align the cartridge you flick through the menu on the printer not pc screen look for alignment page print this off then you have to pick the dark boxes on the sheet shade the bit next to it and put on your scan bed and click ok it should scan the sheet and reset the alignment

hello..

You may be need to buy a new color cart., becuase the allignment page depend on the Yellow color when it become to scan..

or you can pring any allignment page from a friend and put it in the scanner instead that one you printed out....

Hope it's work
Yasser

if you replace the black ink cart with an original one then it's the print head
Solution: Cleaning the Print Head - C555 / C560 / C635 / C530 / C545

Untitled Document Follow this procedure to clean the BJ cartridge print head:
1. Press 2. Press 3. Use or to select the [HEAD CLEANING]..
4. Press .
The MultiPASS cleans the print head.

The BJC-55 takes 2 different types of print heads. And also a scanner head, that snaps into the same place and turns the printer into a scanner.

One print head is a Canon BC-11E. It has 2 ink tanks in it. 1 black and 1 tri-color. It prints in full color or black

The other print head is a BC-10. It prints only in black. But the ink yank holds 4 times the black ink of the BC-11E. It is very popular with business travelers who print only documents. The printer works about twice as fast with it. And replacing ink is a lot cheaper.

The scan head is called an IS-12.

Prices range from 40 to 60 dollars in supply stores ( Staples, etc)

Ebay is a good place to look for them

The message seems to be saying that you have two black cartridges installed and therefore one of the colors is missing. Is that possible?