Epson Stylus Color 980

[chaplndave]

I'm having a terrible time with my Epson Stylus Color 980. It keeps printing weird streaks in color...for instance if I am printing red...it comes out like a rainbow effect with pink, red, yellow, orange, etc. I have cleaned my printhead on several occasions and it clears it up for like a couple of hours and then it is back to streaking again. I have genuine Epson print cartridges (both black and multi-color) so that is not the problem. I have even swapped out cartridges thinking it may be a bad cartridge, but no luck. Any suggestions out there? Thanks.

[eviltechie]

have you tried the "clean" button on the printer

usualy its holding some button for 3 seconds
and that "some button" varies for most of the models

also try to do an alignment and cleaning using the epson printing software that comes with the driver

if that doesnt help
you need to clean the printheads again maybe with a cloth that is damp with warm water

[chaplndave]

I have used the Epson software on several occasions to clean the print heads, but it usually only helps for a couple of hours of not too heavy printing...then I'm back with the same dilema. Are the print heads in the cartridge itself or are they actually a part of the printer mechanism? I have thought about removing the print cartridges and using a Q-Tip with some rubbing alcohol to try to clean it out, but have not done so because I don't know if this would be OK. Any suggestions???

[eviltechie]

its on the printer

try using a compressed air can duster first
get rid of dust
see if it helps

and if not, then just use warm water, it will work, no need to use alchohol