How to Find the Problem Color When the Color is Strange – Printer Cleaning Issues Part 21 ARTJET 2026

• When ink enters the Damper from the main ink bottle via the ink tube, it passes through the print head, flows to the captop, moves through the motor pump, and finally drains into the waste ink bottle.
• This article covers How to Find the Problem Color When the Color Is Strange in the full ink supply problem series.
• This follows Part 1 Captop Lower Tube, Part 2 How to Replace the Captop, Part 3 Damper, Part 4 Pump Motor and Yellow Tube, Part 5 Captop and Head Position, Part 6 Aligning the Captop and Head Position, Part 7 When the Capping Station Level Is Not Correct, Part 8 Captop Surface Drying, Part 9 Degraded Ink Inside the Captop, Part 10 Time for Ink to Fill the Damper, Part 11 Ink Tube Burst, Part 12 How to Replace a Motor Pump Tube, Part 13 Why White Cleaning Doesn’t Work Well, Part 14 Why It’s Important to Replace the Yellow Tube and Captop, Part 15 Head Protection Plate Crumpled, Part 16 Head Protection Plate Cracked, Part 17 When a Specific Color Drops Out During Printing, Part 18 The Color Has Faded, Part 19 White Flies Around the Image, and Part 20 When to Replace the Damper.

Of course, based on the photo below, the color clearly printed strangely — but there’s no way to tell what the actual problem is from this alone.

The photo above doesn’t clearly show which color is missing.

Instead, we asked for the section of the test image that contains the color bars.

• The darker area is where Magenta prints,
• and the lighter area is where Light Magenta prints.
• In other words, Light Magenta isn’t printing, which throws off the overall color.

Looking at a specific color bar — rather than the full image — is how you can pin down the problem color.

There are two possible reasons a specific color drops out during printing:

• Ink isn’t being supplied properly, so ink simply doesn’t come out during printing, or
• the nozzle test looks fine, but there’s an anomaly in the print head data.

On our printers, the nozzle pattern tells you whether it’s a data issue.

The second thick bar from the left on the White row is missing. When a thick bar like this is missing, that channel isn’t jetting ink during printing.

In other words, it’s an ink supply issue.

A normal nozzle pattern but ink leaking during actual printing — this was a problem we’d dealt with once before.

To recap that history briefly,

• there were no issues for two weeks after installation, then this symptom suddenly appeared. After a lot of back and forth, we replaced the Captop and thought it was resolved,
• only for the same problem to reappear two weeks later. More checking, another Captop swap, temporary improvement, then the problem again over time,
• with no clear cause found.
• We replaced the entire ink line from the main bottle to the Damper,
• replaced the Damper multiple times, replaced the Captop,
• checked the head and Captop position,
• printed countless test images,
• and replaced the print head.

About 20 minutes later, they messaged saying the print came out normal.

If the Capping height is set to 5, try changing it to 4.5 or 4.

Seeing this symptom doesn’t guarantee the exact same problem, but

• if a specific color drops out during printing and that same color shows up heavily on the Captop, this is very likely the cause.
• The nozzle is normal, and the right color prints fine at first, then a specific color drops out midway through,
• or printing goes fine for a few rounds, then suddenly the ink drops out on the third or fourth print,
• or the symptom appears suddenly after a long stretch of trouble-free use —
• the cause is the Captop’s rubber blade going dull and sinking.

To explain in more detail:

• Epson-series print heads use the Captop for ink load (pumping) and cleaning, and it seals the head to protect it when not printing.
• The Captop needs to press firmly against the print head underside to form a proper seal — otherwise pumping and cleaning won’t work correctly.
• To block air and seal the head underside, the Captop’s square rim is made of rubber.
• As the capping station rises, spring pressure beneath the Captop lets its rubber gently contact the print head,
• and as the capping station rises further, that spring pushes harder, pressing the Captop firmly against the head underside.
• Aside from actual printing, the printer stays in the capped state at all times.
• While capped, constant physical pressure is applied to the Captop’s rubber blade, gradually dulling and flattening what was once a firm seal.
• As this happens, the print head nozzle surface starts touching the white felt inside the Captop’s rubber blade.
• Once the nozzle touches that felt, ink inside the Damper keeps getting absorbed into it continuously.
• Eventually, the ink sitting in the Damper naturally drains out, leaving the Damper empty.

If you run a print head cleaning in this state,

• whatever ink remains in the Damper flows into the print head, so the nozzle test looks normal —
• but since the Damper doesn’t have enough ink, that color fails to print early or partway through the job.
• To prevent this, the Captop — a consumable part — needs to be replaced periodically.
• You can also reduce the physical pressure on the Captop rubber blade by adjusting the capping station height,
• but since that adjustment can affect other colors and cleaning, replacing the Captop first is the right call.