My sister has a CX5400 printer that is printing blank pages. Thanks to this website, I discovered that the tubes are clogged. I believe the reason for this is that it has not been used in about a year because it stopped printing after we installed Tiger (Mac) and upgraded her RAM. What I need to know is how many tubes there are and can they be replaced. I have the machine apart and see 2 tube ends, I initially thought it was all one tube but now I am not so sure of that. Also, does anyone know if I do this if it will fix the problem permanently or will I have further problems?
There's a tube that runs through the pump on the right side. It can get clogged. More commonly, the tube that gets clogged is the purge tube running down from the left side of the service station. They do not need replacing. If you get the print mechanism up, take all the sponge pads off and remove the tube. Then flush it with hot water. You can blow on one end of it. If you have a small syringe, you can pump water through the tube coming from the pump as it's a bit difficult to disassemble it and put it back together. I've only seen one where the clog was so bad that I had to disassemble the pump. While you have the pads up, scoop up all the gelled ink before you reassemble it.
I appreciate your help. I did try to flush the tubes with a syringe and hot water (140 degrees); however, the water and ink shot back at me. I can feel one clog just under the sponge but do not know how many more there are. I have already unblocked the ends of the tubes and the stuff that came out felt like pebbles (not gel). Therefore, I was wondering how the cleaner works and if it really does. One of the tubes has a clamp on it and hooks to the printer just to the left of the sponge. The other tube I found hooks to the sponge. Are these the only 2 tubes there are?
The tube that runs under the sponges just lays in a channel. Like I said, pull the sponges out, pull out the tube. Disconnect it from the clamp and clean up all the gelled ink from the tank. You've done the hard part, this part is easy, but messy.
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