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Cleaning the Print Heads

The print head cleaning and Cleaning functions allow you to clear up clogged print head nozzle. Perform print head cleaning if printing is faint or a specific color fails to print, even though there is enough ink.
If you perform Cleaning and the condition still does not improve, perform system cleaning.

The procedure for cleaning is as follows:

Cleaning

  1. Select Cleaning from the pop-up menu on the Canon IJ Printer Utility

  2. Click the Cleaning icon

    The confirmation message appears.
    Before running the cleaning, check the following items:

    On some printer models, pressing the tank cover open button on the printer opens the tank cover.
    Check the following items for each ink. Then, if necessary, perform Cleaning.

    • Is there ink remaining in the tank?
    • Did you push in the ink tank completely until you heard a clicking sound?
    • If the orange tape is there, has it been peeled off completely?
      Any remaining tape will hinder ink output.
    • Did you install the ink tanks in their correct positions?

  3. Execute cleaning

    Make sure that the printer is on and then click OK.

    Print head cleaning starts.

Important

  • Cleaning consumes a small amount of ink.
    Cleaning the print head frequently will rapidly deplete your printer's ink supply. Consequently, perform cleaning only when necessary.

System Cleaning

Execute System Cleaning if the status does not improve even after Cleaning is performed.

  1. Select Cleaning from the pop-up menu on the Canon IJ Printer Utility

  2. Click the System Cleaning icon

    The confirmation message appears.
    Before running the system cleaning, check the following items:

    Check that the printer power is on. Then press the tank cover open button on the printer and open the tank cover.
    Check the following items for each ink.

    • Is there ink remaining in the tank?
    • Did you push in the ink tank completely until you heard a clicking sound?
    • If the orange tape is there, has it been peeled off completely?
      Any remaining tape will hinder ink output.
    • Did you install the ink tanks in their correct positions?

    In addition, System Cleaning consumes an extremely large amount of ink.
    Before executing this function, check the items below. Then, if you feel it necessary, execute System Cleaning.

    • Did you use Nozzle Check to check the nozzle status and was there a problem?
    • Did the status remain unchanged even after Cleaning was executed?

  3. Execute system cleaning

    Make sure that the printer is on and then click OK.

    System cleaning starts.

Important

  • System Cleaning consumes an extremely large amount of ink.
    Executing system cleaning frequently will rapidly deplete your printer's ink supply. Therefore, execute system cleaning only when necessary.

Note

  • When Cleaning or System Cleaning is complete, perform a Nozzle Check and confirm the results of cleaning.