How To Clean Printheads 

I weighed the cost of purchasing 2 new printheads versus purchasing a new printer. It was cheaper to purchase a new printer. With that information I figured I would give this printhead cleaning method a try. The worst that could happen is that it wouldn't work for me and I would have to purchase a new printer. Well, it worked! I am back in business with my money still in my pocket. Thanks for sharing this information.

I tried the HP Utilities print head clean twice to no avail then tried soaking the cartridge in water for 5 minutes. I didn't use anything other than water and that worked like a charm. Thank you!

Holy smokes dude, I'm so glad that I found your video!! I searched for "how to clean a printhead for dummies" and came up with your video. I was pulling my hair out, metaphorically speaking, trying to figure this out. Btw, I'm 64 years old and have proven that you can teach an old kitty new tricks.

Thank you! I was going nuts for hours trying to figure out why it wasn't printing & nearly ordered new print cartridges. Less than 5 minutes, you had me up and running again! You are an absolute star!

Thank you. So many videos on youtube that just waste time and dont offer any solutions. Thank you for making a video that actually delivers on what it promises.

Great results! Being able to clean it and get it printing correctly again for the first time in a long time is wonderful! People may complain about the alcohol solution, but the other option was replacing the printer, so I wasn't out anything except the time it took to clean. Replaced with fresh solution 3 times there was such a heavy ink, sludge buildup. Thanks!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! I'm now able to print properly after following the advice in this video. Like having a brand new printer again. 😃 EDIT: instead of wasting ink and paper using the printer's cleaning cycles (which often don't fix the problem completely), follow this video and you'll get perfect results.

for anyone else in a rush, I used this method with just tap water and it worked a treat.. probably not as good as distilled water and alcohol but hey I got the document I needed printed. cheers

Absolutely brilliant! After spending hours on downloads and forums plus resetting my printer I came across this video and worked a treat, even using vodka/water instead of iso. Thank You.

You just saved my printers life ! Thanks for the info, I cleaned it manually and now it's working just like it was new! 😃

Excellent! After trying to clean with the printer's software 3 times there were no considerable results, I tried this and it's printing like new again!

I was given a printer that wasn't printing right after new cartridges were installed. I removed the tape strips over the cartridge's vent holes - and now I have a nice printer!

If you're in the UK isopropyl alcohol is surgical spirits, and the water? That comes out of the tap!! Cheers for the vid guys. A+.

I can't believe this really worked! I haven't had black ink in about or month or so. Thank you!

Thank you!!!! I tried reset and clean cartridges feature and soaking them in water and alcohol finally worked! You rock!!

first time i find a video thats both clear and also short, just changed cartridges and also cleaned the printhead on my HP c309 and all worked perfectly. in regards to comments below please use the inside of your head and dont soak toomuch or use toomuch alcohol. thank you

That worked and didn't destroy my print head unlike some of the more rigorous methods here on youtube i didnt trust. Thanks for this!

It may be helpful to let people know about using distilled water when mixing with rubbing alcohol. You don't want to use tap or mineralized drinking water, as those minerals and tap particles may have a negative effect on the heads after a few clean ups. It's always good to use distilled water, which you should be easily able to find in any grocery store.

OOOOOOOOOHHH MY GOD. THANKS ALOT IT WORKED. it was 2am and I need it in early morning. I used hand sanitizer. 😆🤣 and warm water. I thought my black ink would work but my dead color one worked. Thanks again. Also if both don't work just remove the black and see if the color works. If color doesn't work remove it and just use black. Sometimes if both ink inside they won't work.

I'm impressed! I was ready to send it out for repairs. I have a Hp8500a. I am so happy that I looked here first. Unbelievable! Love new technology. Thank you for taking the time to post this very helpful video.

Thank you, my printhead was totally clogged with ink. This worked really well. I changed the water and alcohol solution about 3 times until the solution was mostly clean.

"if it didn't fix it in 2 minutes, try all night" XD

I tried it and it works saved me from buying a new ink cartridge :) thanks for the tip will do it again if it happened again and hope it will work again....

Thanks. This worked perfectly. Just on time to print my tax returns. I thought I was going to have waste $25 on a print cartridge. Instead, I bought a $1 bottle of alcohol and didn't have to participate in the $20-$40 for three cents worth of ink scam.

oh my gosh this worked !!!!!! ( I will definitely suggest this to anyone my printer kept only printing the color magenta but after this video it worked so good yes i am 11 when i was with my dad he kept trying so hard to fix this printer(Lexmark) and he took hours to fix this so i decided to let him watch this video he tried out the alcohol and water thing( any type of alcohol works )and tap water works and then it printed good as new i would definitely suggest this to anyone if their print head does not work correctly or if any color is not working thanks ink technology)

We haven't used our printer in a really long time and this worked!

Thank you thank you thank you!!!! It worked I just wiped them with alcohol pads and my hp Officejet pro 8500 asked me to do 3 separate print head cleanings. Last one I saw orange, printed reg. test and out came the yellow finally! Black fixed itself with first clean of alcohol

I've been trying to get my printer to print B&W for weeks. Replaced the cartridges, tried to find a repair shop that would do it, ran about a million self-cleaning cycles. Finally took it apart and soaked the nozzle in about 20% isopropyl inspired by this video. Now it prints B&W! Thanks.

Thanks mate. This helped me a lot. I tried everything else several times but cleaning the printheads with water and IPA helped finally. Cheers for this.

You saved my printer :D I used nail polish remover with acetone (last resort before I bought a new printer). One soaking for 30 minutes opened up all but one in my Canon printer, soaked that one again and now my printer works perfectly :)

Thank you. This unclogged my printer heads and saved me so much $$$. THANK YOU!!!

THANK YOU!!! I had tried everything possible. I just tried the alcohol and water soaking and like magic, it was printing again. You're awesome.

Very good. I had problems with my HP Photosmart B109a-m. I could't get out cyan. With help of this video I put the print head in a solution as you explain, for 3 minutes and what a surprise I manage to recover cyan which before did not print at all. All colors are working fine now . Thank you.

First time for 5 min, didn't work. Went back , did it for an hour, and WALaaa. Thanks for the video. I was just about to go out and buy a new printer.

worked a treat, i'm back in business!

It fixed my coloured ink in 2 minutes and my black ink over night! I am surprised it actually worked, thank you! I have the printer HP Office Jet 5255.

Worked like a charm when the onboard cleaning utility provided less than stellar results. Thanks!

Before I followed the steps in this video, my black ink wasn't working. After trying all of the HP directions, and failed, I tried this. Now, none of them work! so thanks.

Thankyou. I used the soak overnight option on a Canon pro1 print head and it worked. Saved me $600 on reconditioned print head (or $1700 for a new printer)

Thanks so very much, this method worked on my Kodak Hero 3.1 - well except for the blue. I ended up soaking a couple of times but can't seem to get blue to print. Much better than having to buy a new printer and gives me time to buy a new print head. :D Happy Camper I am!

It works, I first try water only, then water + sanitizer, then using a paper try to clean the wet ink.

Thank you for this simple fix. I thought I would have to get a new printer. This worked quickly and beautifully!

I just cleaned the print head with a piece of tissue soaked in alcohol and getting great prints now.

this worked for me also, set it for 5 mins and it worked well after

THANKS! Your clear instruction on how to clean the printheads on the Cannon series totally solved my printing issue (things were printing too light).

Very helpful. My black ink on my Lexmark 6300 was very streaky if it came out at all. So I did this tried this cleaning along with another vid that instructed to put cleaner in the well itself and it worked. Thank you.

Didn't have any alcohol on hand, but I did have Listerine which is about 21% alcohol, it worked perfectly hahaha. Then I let it soak in just water to make sure there would be no sticky residue from the mouth wash. Haha, the struggle is real.

Awesome and Thank you!!!! I tried it, and it worked!!!! So easy and now I know how to do it. You saved me from having to buy a new printer! Yeah!

Just when I was about to toss the cartridges, tired this and it worked great! Didn't even have to soak for 2 minutes .

wow. just wow. both cartridges working again like new. amazing thank you!!!

Wow! It worked for me- received a defective black cartridge which messed up the head- took a couple of attempts but this seems to have done the trick! Thanks!

Thank you. I just took the heads out mine, used a bit of warm water mixed with a bit of turps on a plate for 2 mins. Now printing perfect. One less thing to worry about :)

omg what a life saver printer is working again !!!! thank you soooo much !!! i had an error code of B200 on the canon mx922

Thanks. This video helped a lot, I also appreciate that its not a very long video!

I have an HP Envy 5530. I only used about 1 or 2 sets of ink, and I'm already having problems with the quality. I've chose the "Clean Printheads" option several times, and the test sheet always shows lines going through every color. I went too long without using it I guess. But ink is OUTRAGEOUS! I can't afford to use it all the time. But with that said, I'll have to try this whenever I get time.

Thank you! I know this video is nearly 8 years old but it was helped me out today!!

Thanks for the info, I tried it and it worked. I was about to call Staples or Office Depot and get juiced.

Thank you so much for posting this. I tried HP help first, which may have been using artificial intelligence. I found your real intelligence to be much more effective! Thanks again, as due to your clear instructions and video, my printer is now properly printing both color and black and white.

HP printer 3054 was working fine, suddenly stopped all ink, window just keeps saying Load Paper, press OK (I've done over and over, makes no diff). Cleaning cartridges (which were new) did nothing. Don't buy from HP. Solution: Place printer beneath tires on pickup truck, run over and squash into tiny pieces, take to local land-fill. Buy new printer at Office Depot or similar. Repeat entire process in about six monthjs, most likely.

Thank you for the explanation, I'll be trying it out now and later I might come back to let ppl know if it worked!

Thank you so much for this hack!!!!! It worked on my dry black HP cartridge, and I am so pleased!!!!👍👍👍👍👍👍

Thanks for the video, i've been trying to unclog it with hot water and after leaving it in the alcohol and water it unclogged completely in 5 seconds

This worked for me though I didn't measure how much alcohol to water I used. Certainly unclogged a printhead and i was able to print many pages, thanks!

Lots of opinions. Canon-MX330- I just soak the cartridge in isopropyl alcohol using the original cartridge tray and place the whole thing in a sealed Tupperware container. Keeps the alcohol from evaporating and allows the clogged heads to soften/slows down any back . Next morning, wipe down all alcohol and head with tissue paper. Then run the maintenance utility to flush out heads further. Been doing this for two years now and only had to do it once every two refills. Good luck..

There are companies that package a syringe with a tube on the tip along with this special solution that they won't really tell you what it is. I think if they were just honest about what it is and sell it for a fair price that people would buy it for the convenience of having all the stuff you need in 1 kit.

Great video! Thanks Never even knew my printer was self cleaning!!

glad you were there .Kodak self help was not very good

Definitely worth a shot. It already doesn't work. What's the worst that can happen?

Thanks, soaked in alcohol for about 5 min and fixed this issue. HP 7858.

I just tried and it worked for me. Thank you sir

Worked for me with just warm water and leaving it in a little longer

This is God sent! Had to do it twice as the first time, 2 min wasn't enough. I also used a syringe and carefully flushed out the blue pipe inside, as the blue wasn't printing (Printer HP officejet 8610).

oh wow. im having a print head issue and found this video. amazing is you used an mx860. i have an mx870 and the process is identical. thanks!

Thank you so much for this video, manually cleaning the printhead helped me out big time tonight but I have another problem. My black ink which did not work on my Kodak all in one printer is now working but the black ink is very very light. I took out the black ink, put a paper towel around it but that did not improve things. My ink level on black ink is about 75-80%.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Just tried this and it worked like a charm :D

Tank you so much, I thought the printhead was located on the cartridge, now I know for sure. I have been having problems with an HP LaserJet 3632.

Fantastic! Solved all my problems with blank pages. Thanks so much ...

thank you so much! what these two ingredients did for my ink printouts.

Works Great. I just did it, ( followed your instructions ) and it Helped tremendously. Thanks.

Thank you so much! Got both my black and color ink cartridges back up working smooth.

This worked perfectly, got my black cartridge working again!

Great tip - got my cyan printhead working like magic! Thanks!!!

Thank you! I will try this tonight when I get home!!

epsons are bad about that- the hps i've had had the heads in the cartridge and were less prone to clogs. i have a script on my computer now that prints a test page automatically every couple of days, works so far to keep it clear

Only way to clean these printheads, Not mentioned anywhere on the HP website!

This may be video I needed so I will see if my brand new print cartridge will finally work.HP.

I used 50 water/25 iso alcohol /25 window cleaner with amonia and let it soak for 2 mins done deal printer working perfectly

Just brilliant. It worked for my hp 901 black and color inks. Thanks for sharing.

Just to make sure, I know 70% / 90% are standards for Isopropyl, but mixing it down the 70% (standard electronic) by half you're aiming for 35-45% approximately. Something not too abrasive to cause discoloration/plastic atrophy, but still strong enough and clean to remove buildup, right? Great vids! Thanks!

You are a lifesaver. Thank you 👏🏾👏🏾

I have learned something new from this video.

Coffee filters are lint free and are better from my experience.. Bounty paper towels towels are decent also.. Hp also recommends lint free coffee filters in their Assitant program. that you can down load..I used them on my HP 4500 office jet cartridges..

One month old HP Envy 5545 printer, original cartridge refilled twice; second time, black ink is barely flowing, causing light and partial printing. Will try the soak technique, thank you.

Thank you, that worked for me. Thought I needed a new printer.

Absolutely FIXED my issue. Much appreciated!!!!!!

Hi there! This video is excellently done- thank you! Question: after returning the printhead to the printer, I received error code 0x9E, and now my printer is inaccessible. Do you know what this could be?

Thanks much for this. Soaking like you showed worked beautifully.

I'm definitely gonna try it when I get home. I have replaced the ink in my printer and you still can barely see the words on the paper. They are really light gray instead of black.

Used only alcohol and worked. Thanks

Just tried this on my Canon MX700. Worked like a charm! Thanks.