4 years later this paper towel method helped me bring life back to my 4-year-old printer... excellent tip!!

***** IT WORKS!!!!!!!! Jose gave us all the tools of knowledge on how a printer's inkjet works and what the common issues are and how to fix it yourself when possible! And I appreciate you teaching us! My 10yr old son and I were able to use the Windex method and within 30min or so we had it back to printing like brand new again!!! Woo-hoooooo!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Jose!!! Ok I fully realize this video is at least 4yrs old but still VERY relevant to what I am dealing with right now. I am just now going through the first least invasive step of wetting the paper towel with windex and letting it sit. Crossing my fingers this works! I am SO bummed that my black ink has virtually stopped working, pretty much a light grey at this point. It is a new printer I bought a few months ago too! I was using daily until this pandemic struck our planet and I all but stopped using my printer for a whole week and now it's apparently clogged! So irritating, but I am grateful for your video and hopefully I will be back in business soon!! Hope you are doing well and anyone reading this during this pandemic is healthy and safe. *** I will report back how this works so that other's know who are dealing with a similar issue as me.

Wow, amazing help! I had not used my Epson C88 for a least 1 year and it was completely clogged on all the color channels. When I ran a nozzle check sheet it was completely blank. I then patiently used Jose's procedure with the Windex paper towel strips (about 7 times) until hardly no ink was showing up on the strips. When I first started the black ink was prevalent and then as I progressed splotches of cyan, magenta, and yellow started to show up on the strips, so I knew the nozzles were starting to unclog. I periodically ran some nozzle checks and noticed the colors were gradually starting to show up on the paper. I then ran a few clean head cycles and "bam" everything was hitting on all the color channels. I printed some color articles and I'm amazed how this printer came back to life like a new inkjet printer. Thanks again for your help!

Well done sir. Your coaching and conversational style, combined with your knowledge, kept me tuned in, thank you, Jon

I want to thank you so much for sharing this video for free! Your technique fixed my problem very quickly and I promise I will use my printers more!! Your passion shines through in this video. I am always in awe of people with so much expertise in an area that I would have never thought to explore. Thank you!!

I want to tell you that this is one of the best instructional videos I’ve seen. Clear, concise and well presented and explained. Thanks.

So, it’s February 2024 and I have just taken my Epson WF 7610 out of storage where it’s been sitting unused for THREE YEARS. Amazingly it still printed (poorly) with black ink, but the CMY had all dried up. I changed the cartridges and it would print NOTHING but black. I tried everything I could find to remedy the situation and nothing worked. Until I found your video today. Amazing, just amazing, that Windex can save my printer. After only about an hour of soaking the heads with Windex we are back in business. Thanks again!

Thank you for donating your time to people so they can learn. It's very generous of you. God Bless!

Thank you very much, I was able to get very good results. I will clean once more soon and print once a week at least, this video is so underrated and you have probably saved people throughout the world thousands of dollars or more.

Thanks for the video! Does the paper towel have to make physical contact with the print head or does it just hover above? Thank you.

Followed your instructions and got my printer working again after sitting unused for over a year! Thankful for this method...no cleaning kit necessary. Much appreciated!

I appreciate the time you have spent in making these videos, and helping the printing community. I have watched a lot of those videos, still have some to go through. So, I finally tried resetting the printing properties on my Canon TS9120 printer based on some of your suggestions, like when you were doing an Epson & Canon's settings. I even was to find the montage picture you suggested. Well after resetting everything, the picture came out white a 'bluish corroded copper' look, the face coloring were completely all very wrong. At this point I wanted to throw up and maybe get another printer completely. But after breakfast this morning and settling back down at the printer, started going back over things. Then remembered this video. Printhead Clogs, well I did more than that. After removing the cartridges and then the printhead, took the printhead to sink, ran really hot water over both side of the printhead. Took the printhead down to garage and used the dog's heated air blower (helps in removing loose hair from the dogs). Now the printhead is clean & dry, re-install it, put ink cartridges back in, did a "Cleaning" from the printer's menu, and then a test page. What a change cleaning the printhead had made. Re-printed your picture, it turned out as yours had, well maybe not as exactly as yours but close enough for my use. Thanks for your help.

This channel has rescued my P800. It took four days to recover from months of zero use, including total blockage on four of 8 channels.I have used a whole bottle of window cleaner, lots of paper towel and lots of ink BUT I now have a perfect nozzle check pattern and have successfully made a print. I will now start watching the videos on how to improve my printing!

I was desperate from my Epson's print head until I found this video. Thank you so much

Thank you so much for posting this video! I thought my Epson XP-640 printer was destined for the trash can. As a last resort I decided to see if I could fix it. I followed your exellent tutorial and doing so restored my printers' performance good as new, saving me money and preventing more e-waste. So now I follow your advice to print often and don't let the printer sit unused. Thanks again.

Thank you for the videos you produce on printing and printer care. I have come back repeatedly to your channel when I have questions about my Canon MX882. I have learned to refill my carts, how to care for it and developed the confidence to print and play without worry of it costing a lot. Today I finally cleaned the print head because of a clog that would not go away. Now clog free and getting ready to print a portfolio for a job interview! Thank you again for the passion, knowledge and work that you put into sharing the information for us DIY home printer people.

Great informative video. I tried cleaning with the paper towel about three or four times with no success. I then left the soaked towel over night, cleaned it in the morning, did a nozzle check - perfect and printed pictures absolutely perfect. Obviously the overnight trick does the business. Thank you once again..

Thanks, Joe. I always learn something new from you. Many thanks! Betty

Thank you so much!!!! I have an Epson WF-2530 and have had it for years. I had just used it a few days ago and knew that black ink was low, but just wanted to use it real quick and it would only print a blank paper. I put the new ink in and ran nozzle checks, and head cleanings and still nothing. Ended up having to replace all other inks and still no black print. I cleaned the heads with alcohol (got that idea from web) and nothing. Was very upset because could not find another inexpensive printer that I could buy that uses the 200 ink (because my ink was brand new). Came across your video and read the rave of how thankful people were, so I gave it one last shot. And after 5 hours, I was able to print the documents that I needed from this morning! Again, THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS INFORMATION!!!!! WHAT A LIFESAVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BEST and ONLY Fix I have found for Epson 4540. I scoured the internet and watched a bunch of videos, including ones where you disassemble the entire printer. In 5 minutes this fixed my printer. Thanks Jose. Subscribed and liked.

I tried this method for my Epson 645 and it made it print again. I so appreciated the passive method as I was worried about attempting the more invasive syringe method. I also appreciated your honest comment about it being my own fault :-). I'll remember to use it more regularly in the future. Thanks Jose!

Thanks for the excellent videos, I've learned a great deal from them. I have an Epson XP860 which I failed to print with for too long and have been trying to clear my Cyan head. I'm down to two segments left. Rather than using a lot of cleaner and ink, could I add some Piezo Flush to the cyan cart along with the ink and proceed with printing normally(don't care about print quality) to hopefully clear the last two segments? I've already gone through the procedures you describe. Thanks

Sir, thank you so much for making this video! Its absolutely gold to hear a someone with so much knowledge on a subject describe the ins and outs of it. You can tell you know what you are talking about and thats what i love so much about my elders

My printer went up the chuff again !! Searched out this video that I watched 3 years ago, applied the same methods and hey presto, printer working fine again - cheers buddy, really appreciate it

You always so helpful, Jose... Thumbs Up 2 You!

Thanks so much for this! I was just about to toss out a 1 year old epson xp-310 that stopped printing black. I used your tip and it worked like a charm. Thanks a million!

It worked very well on my Epson L6190 with colors clogged for several months (so been using for printing black only). Had to repeat the process 20 times or so, but well worth the time and effort as Epson Service Center is far from home. Thanks a million for making this tutorial, by far the best I have found on this topic 🤩🤗

Jose! I love ya man! Four years since I used my Epson. The paper and Windex along with your instructions and three changes of soaked paper towel did the trick. Amazing. Thank you so very much.

Wonderful tip, thanks. Should you remive the ink cartridges first? How many times should you do this, until there is no more gunk on the paper towel?

OMG you saved my printer. I was just about to buy a new one. lol the ink cartridge was $40 and honestly, this printer has been giving me all sorts of headaches for the last two years I was so ready to just toss the whole printer and get a new one for the price of a cartridge.

This works so brilliantly, you are a superstar. Thanks to your video, I now understand why my printer stopped working properly (I don't use it enough). The ink had dried rock hard on the black nozzle. Cleaned it using the paper towel and window cleaner as per your instructions - it now works superbly - can't thank you enough. Top man, you've saved me a fortune and given me the best feeling in the world - repairing something that you thought was broken and bin ready and getting it back to like new. Top marks

Pleasure to listen to a true expert! Thank you kindly for such great help Jose!

THANK YOU, SOOOO INFORMATIVE

Most common sense knowledgable presentation ever!

It worked!! I have watched 5 other videos and NO ONE mentioned cleaning with Windex!! I have an office All-In-One Canon MB2320 that was replaced 6 months ago by a Brother printer. It was taken to another office yesterday, so I pull out the old Canon MB2320. It showed full ink, but after numerous attempts, it would not print. You showed the simple Windex cleaning technique, and it worked! Thank you steve

Thanks for the wealth of information. You’ve provided a much less costly method of cleaning print heads. The procedure you talked about is simple and easy with little or no additional items to buy. Yes - the video is a little long but the information I’ve listened to that you gave is valuable. Lesson learned here is to print more often and don’t leave the inkjet printers sit for long periods of time. Thanks a million!

This fixed it! My Black ink on my Epson XP-620 hasn't printed correctly for a long time and I just thought I had bought bad ink. After watching this video, I spent 10 minutes running my print heads over Windex soaked paper towels and it worked! It printed beautifully on the first attempt after the treatment. Gracias Jose!

Very informative, thank you. However, I have one suggestion...please show us what to do as you explain the steps. Some of us, like myself, have never done this type of printer cleaning. I, like most people are, am a graphic learner, I need to see exactly what to do. Explaining is great, but we really need to see also...

This video was such a big help. I bought a late model open box Epson from a computer store that had obviously been used because the ink cartridges were already in it and there was paper in it. I didn't think about clogged print heads from sitting, which based on the dustiness had been awhile. I was able to get the magenta, cyan, and yellow to work but nothing at all would come out of the black. Didn't even take a whole day for the black to start discharging onto the paper towel. And bonus the magenta, cyan, and yellow have really discharged onto the paper towel as well. Videos like this is what makes KZfaq so great. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I was so upset and frustrated because this printer has been nothing but a hassle to get set up properly and I thought I had wasted my time and money for nothing.

Thank you for the advice! I left a paper towel strip, dampened with windex, under my ink cartridges over night. I did a Nozzle check and then printed afterwards and it worked! I haven't used my printer in probably 2 years... so I will definitely listen to your advice on using my printer much more!

love this wisdom you should be a character in some movie :)

Again my printer clogged and I tried to fix it. Everything got "worse" the more I tried. :-( I tried this procedure and attempted to clear the clog I was getting on the cyan only to make things worse. Nothing was improving after several attempts with reapplying the cleaning fluid. Still nothing improved but only got worse. I tried the paper towel soaked with windex and pushed the print-head over it several times, leaving it sit for several hours and overnight. Nothing improved. I remember you said to use “new” ink cartridges at the end of your video. Print test failed and I didn’t see “any” lines. I listened to what you said in the video again and again; this time I heard you say “continue doing this and to be patient, it will clear”. Another day pasted and I cleaned the heads “again” with the solution several times. Finally the cyan printed but no others. I did the printer’s {print head cleaning} opt again and again, then ran a {nozzle check} and this time the back and all the colors printed. Thank you again for the video & “YES” be patient, it WORKS. ----->>> BE PATIENT

I was about to buy a new printer then I watched your video and followed the instructions. I'm glad I did . You just saved me a lot of money. Thanks !

I am so happy I found you ! You saved me with the windex treatment!!! It worked perfectly after trying other suggestions! Thank You! You also did a great job of walking me thru the process!

Thank you Jose! this is very helpful. I have a question. I am letting the paper towel set under the print head , do i keep the inks in for this or take them out? also do we need to change the papertowel after an hour of setting if it is full of ink? thank you

Your tips helped me, thank you. I just wanted to add that for moderate blockage, what just worked for me is instead of doing the whole syringe procedure, I removed the ink cartridges and cleaned them from the top with Windex on cotton swabs. It was quick and the Epson is back to perfect prints.

What a great video. I was just about to throw out my printer. After following your instructions my printer was as good as new. I never realised you need to use your printer regularly. I now print a test page regularly. Thank you so much.

Windex ... who knew! Many thanks for sharing your printer head-cleaning knowledge. My 12+ year-old Epson 3880 Pro was just recently starting to bleed black ink on all prints. After running the Epson nozzle checks and head cleaning utilities many times the printer was still showing a plugged black-ink nozzle. All it took was one application of Windex on paper towel to clear the plugged nozzle. You saved my printer ... many thanks.

Thanks for sharing all your knoledge to us who still insist in clogging our print heads because of lack of using.

Thank you so much! I had no idea what was wrong with my printer and now it's good to go! Thank you for taking the time out to put out a very helpful and informative video!!!

Thank you so much. I struggled to get any colors to print, I cleaned the heads, I primed, I printed hundreds of papers and still nothing worked. Finally I stumbled on this 5 yr old video and my printer Epson 2720 now prints perfectly.

What a great tutorial! Worked like a charm on my XP-211. Now runs like new! Thanks!!!

Hello Sir. I spent $2700 for a Epson SureColor F570 24" Pro Sublimation Printer. I was starting my on T-Shirt print company but bought piece by piece over a year. I use this printer to test it out, but stored it way until 3 days ago. Well, as you can guess…it was completely clogged after sitting “brand new” with ink in the lines for 11 months. I tried your cleaning technique and because I have a lot of patience (as you say is required), I stayed at for 3 days straight and finally today my nozzle check came out perfect! I am a nationally known autism advocate for kids and will tell any and everyone I can about you. You have saved me a lot of money, thank you sir! Vee

My Epson Stylus Photo R220 printer did not come back to life from anything I have done to unclog the print heads. Still the same pattern with nozzle checks no matter what method I used to unclog the nozzles. I'm convinced now my printer has probably reached it's end of life after 17 years. No doubt your how to videos have restored many printers for their owners. Thanks for sharing your expertise and experience.

THANK YOU!!! I find your videos to be sooooo helpful and informative. Thank you for taking the time. I hadn't used my sublimation WorkForce 7720 in almost 2 months and it wouldn't print colors. After cleaning with hot water, windex solution, it worked right away.

Jose, Thank you so much for this video and others you have made. I watched several videos over and over. I used your advice to try to restart an Epson R3000 that had not been used since we moved three years ago. I just kept at it with the paper towel process and printing full test pages and nozzle checks, then letting the printer sit over night. It took over a week and a couple ink cartridge changes but my R3000 is back running beautifully. I installed Inkjet Plumber so I'm hoping I can minimize trouble going forward. Your videos gave me the confidence to spend the time on this old 3000. Very glad I did. Gracias!!!

I rarely leave comments but just had to say that this saved me in a pinch! Thank you so much, your knowledge is appreciated. My pro-1000 was having problems due to clogs (I print infrequently, but when I do I print A LOT). The windex on paper towel worked amazingly well.

Incredibly helpful ! My clogged heads were totally due to sporadic usage and I love how you emphasized this so for future reference I will run printer at least 3 times a week; meanwhile my Epson ET-2750 cleared up brilliantly with the Windex/ paper towel solution with 2 cycles. Every other video I watched had a product to sell and started with the way more complicated and labor intensive syringe based cleaning which was entirely unnecessary. Thank you Jose and stay safe and healthy!!

Jose, thought you could use a good laugh today, anyway my husband and I went out to Target today and bought $40.00 ink cartridge and then proceeded to put into our Epson XP 434 after having been in storage for 2years, needless to say it did not work 🤣 We sure wish we would have watched your videos first!!! Love how you explain everything And also how gentle you are in scolding us, Thank you I have now learned to use and print Our new printer a lot more often at least every 60 hours!!!!

I did exactly as described here and it worked perfectly. I can’t thank you enough!!!!

You look like Pablo Picasso. Thank you sir, very useful and informative video, saved me a lot of money on a new printer. You are the Jedi master of printer head cleaning. 👍

You fixed my problem and educated me at the same time. Bravo!

Thank you so much, Jose. Your Windex paper towel pad cleaned the nozzles on my Epson XP 700. I am very grateful for your help.

Many thanks!!! Did not know about the Windex trick. I have a Canon MG7120. Being an impatient person I took out the print head and disassembled it so that I could use the pressure of the sprayer to "power wash" it. Took about 10 minutes of "power washing" and tap rinsing, but it brought back my print head to like it was brand new. Two thumbs up to you!!!

Thank you! The windex and paper towel technique worked really well. Our printer didn't print the Cyan color at all, so I figured it must be clogged. All other videos online were asking for a full disassembly of my printer or buying some solution to inject. Yours was an easy process with supplies I had laying around my house. I appreciate the guidance. Printer is working like new.

You are soo good Jose - Thank you so much for helping everyone of us out. / all the best from Stockholm Sweden

Thanks to your method I was able to fix my woefully neglected Epson Sure Color P600. It had been months since I had printed (bad owner!). Nozzle check revealed clogs in various colors, especially vivid magenta which was nearly fully clogged. I repeatedly went through the nozzle check/cleaning cycle and let it sit overnight in hopes the clog would be sucked out. There was improvement in most of the colors but vivid magenta was printing one speck. Due to corona virus shutdown here, I didn’t think a repair shop would be open, so I searched and found your instructional video. I wasn’t going anywhere during this time, so I tried your Windex with ammonia-D paper towel method all day long (more than 12 hours). I used a very, very old bottle of Windex with Ammonia-D (it had a faint smell of ammonia) that was lying around. I re-wet the paper towel every hour if not more often, moved the print head to a clean section each time and replaced the paper towel when needed. I ran a nozzle check and everything was printing except vivid magenta which now didn’t print anything. My heart sank thinking it would require more drastic methods. Next, I ran a cleaning cycle and then a nozzle check during which time I was thinking I had gotten what I deserved for being so neglectful. Lo and behold, the nozzle check revealed that all the print nozzles were working perfectly! Thank you. Jose, for your helpful video. I did see your later posting about not using Windex but I thought I might as well give your Windex with ammonia-D as I had that available and felt it was worth a try. I vow to not neglect my printer again. Again, thanks.

Hey bro, thank you for your informative instructions and tips. You have saved me buying another printer. I followed your instructions and after much patience & cleaning the print head in printer and running cleaning and deep cleaning cycles the print head has unblocked itself. Thank you. God bless you.🙏

...Well ...Do NOT Mess with the Wise One ... I listened carefully ...Did exactly what you repeated...Paid attention to every single word...and you know what ?!?!?!... ...IT WORKS...!!!... I am one happy camper... will print religiously from now on... will not let that thing go by again... took all the time ( 2 days with nights )... Works Like when it was New..... So very important here... I need to tell you ...THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR KNOWLEDGE... I do understand it did not come in free for you...So for all people watching this...If you want to fix it... Pay attention...This man spend a lot of his time to be able to settle this into 2 days of lazy work ... Thank You Mister Jose Rodriguez...!!! ...

This really saved the day! It is kind of messy, so wear gloves. I moved the printer head every hour for a a whole afternoon to a cleaner spot on the paper towel, and changed the paper towel several times. Then I let it sit overnight, took out the towel, Put another dry towel in to soak up the moisture. I had no ink at all at the beginning and my printer was making a horrible sound. The sound went away too. I think the 108 degree temps in Seattle this past month reeked havoc. Thanks so much! My Epson XP-810 is alive!

Good job Jose! Nice neat explanation in a nice neat shop. Thank you.

There are so many videos on this, but yours helped me the most

Thank you for your help. We appreciate you.

One of the most incredible videos I have ever seen! Chock full of vital information. Truly inspirational; I look forward to seeing Jose on TED talks. Except the title is wrong. It should be "How to identify a clogged head."

Once again you've provided great information on cleaning the print heads. I appreciate all the detail on "how to" and "why".... You make it easy to do, however I'm going to print more often and avoid the problems of the printer sitting there for weeks without printing.

Best video on printer cleaning. Thanks so much.

Just tried this on my HP Photosmart 5520 and it worked a treat. Here in the UK we don't have Windex, so I used "Mr Muscle window & glass cleaner instead. Thank you so much for the tip.

Genius ✨it helped me from first layer, in 5 min, my blue color came back. Thank you!!!

@JoseRodriguez thank for all the informative information you provided us all with in printers your knowledge and wisdom is so valuable and helpful thank again. I have only one question do I have to rinse out the printer head before I reinstall into my Canon pixma pro-100 printer

Jose you are THE MAN! I was ready to smash my R1900 to smitherings! I flushed the heads, multiple cleanings etc etc. and nothing worked. The windex on the cloth under the head and letting it sit WORKED!!!! Thanks so much!

Excellent advice and detailed explanations, thanks so much!

I performed the prodedure on my Epson XP-241 that Mr. Rodrigues presented and problem solved! Thank you very much!!!

Thanks dude. You made the best video I've seen so far good job old timer. I have not tried it yet, but you make the most since of all others I've seen. Thank you.

It worked on a totally blocked black, and the colors, overnight, on a Epson 400 that had been unused for months because now have Epson Eco printers, but this one is still good to keep for just some general printing. Thank you so much Jose. GENIOUS!! Will be sure to print something several times a week from now on.

My Epson WF-7610 wouldn't print black or color. I tried everything from injecting a cleaner, running the head cleaner and using new ink but it still wouldn't print. Then I found your video and I did the paper towel/windex method 4 or 5 times and it started printing both black and color!!! Thank you for very much for taking the time to make your video and sharing your knowledge.

I used the Windex method as demonstrated by Jose. It worked! Thanks Jose :-)

Jose, thank you so much. I do use my Epson at least twice a week. I do use 3rd party ink but no probs for 4 years until day before yesterday. I found your video and cleaned it all day , 8 times today. It works great! I needed it because I am taking an online course with document back up. Replacing it during the quarantine would be difficult as i am 74 with preexisting conditions and I don't drive. Ordering online would nt have gotten me a printer fast enough to keep up with my course. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Pam

Hi Jose. Thank you for this awesome, easily explained video. I will be giving this a try, as I have not printed in about a month (now I know better). What is the minimum amount of time to leave the cartridge sitting on paper towel solution? I want to make sure I give myself enough time to do this correctly.

thank you xxx I will try to sort out both my printers tomorrow. xx

Thanks you very much sir Epson SureLab D700 printer problem head clogging same formula

Thank you so much for video. I find new menthod by looking this. No need to remove any parts & fix all missing print head. Send 1 print from computer. As soon as it start unplug power cable. Take papper towen & do couple of fold. Soak with after shave or alchohol + few drops of water. Keep soaked papper on printer as in video. Rub printhead on papper. Leave print head few minutes. Repate process couple of times. I did 10 times with new papper tower. Fold three or four towel & repeat process as in video. I bring back my printer :) 100 % work.

5 Years agooo !! what a nice coincidence Saludos Sr Jose ! thanks for all the info you share whit us

Very good information and explanations, thank you!

Thank you so much! This is so easy to understand and using things you can find at home! :)

Worked well on a HP OfficeJet printer. Just soaked the printer head in Windex for a bit in a shallow soap dish. Let it dry overnight, and its printing after some reboots for head alignment. Ty Jose!

Thank you Jose, very helpful!

Hi, I have followed your instructions and I soaked my ink cartridge for a couple of hours, it did the trick, I now have ink! Thank you.

Gracias Jose! But the hat needed an oil change 40,000 miles ago! :) Thanks for a great video!

I hope this isn't a stupid question, but can I remove the ink cartridges when I'm not printing for weeks or months at a time? I print frequently during the school year, but hardly at all during summer break. Is it possible to remove and store the cartridges in plastic bags for a few months, and just shut the printer off until I'm ready to use it regularly again?

Thank you, this video explained a lot and answered a lot of questions.