Vent: my fill line kept starving and it took 11 hours to figure out a $3 part was the whole cause
My old Canon inkjet started leaving faint bands on the right side of any full page color graphic, so I spent 11 hours over two evenings flushing the heads, swapping ink tanks, and running nozzle tests before I finally pulled the fill line and found a tiny crack letting air in. I always assumed feed problems meant a clog or bad head, but a 3 dollar replacement tube fixed it in 5 minutes. Has anyone else chased a feed issue way too long before finding it was just air getting into the line?
Man, I used to be sure feed problems were always clogs or dying heads. I would pull the head, soak it, run a dozen clean cycles, and pat myself on the back when the test page looked fine. Then the bands came back on big prints and I would just repeat the whole thing. It never once crossed my mind that a cracked line could let air in and starve the head the exact same way. Now I check the tubing first before I touch the head, because 11 hours versus 5 minutes is a rough lesson.