How to fix a Brother printer when print head cleaning makes the problem worse

A potential solution if your Brother printer is printing color gaps, and when you try to run the head cleaning, the problem gets worse.

[@SanyaAnwar]

After hours of slaving away trying to fix this problem, I was literally thinking I'd need a new printer-- AGAIN. You are a saint, thank you so much for taking the time to make this video!!

[@asloz1276]

AWESOME , this model has been racking my soul for 12 months, and here is one single video clip, the very same one! I guess now it will keep on printing. Thank you.

[@glenngarland2190]

I'm not the kind of person that posts comments. That being said, this time I could not help but express my appreciation. I had a problem with my printer last year, and it ended up costing me several hundred dollars to fix. So, when I noticed the print quality decreasing recently I didn't delay in my attempt to remedy the problem, BUT It seemed as though, like you explained in your video, my effort to fix the problem only made it worse...and not just a little worse, much much worse. I had lost all hope, then for some unknown reason I decided to turn to KZbin for help. Thank You so much!!

[@RyanSorkness]

Ran the print head cleaning about 15 times, no luck. Tried your solution once, one more print head cleaning, and instantly back to brand new. Thank you!!

[@j.dalsow3756]

Dear Brad Stone, You are indeed a lifesaver of the sweetest flavor. I thought I might need a new Brother print head which is no longer available. Then I found this KZbin and followed your directions. My printer is now printing perfectly. I cannot begin to thank you enough. You are a true blessing ! ! ! 😁

[@user-uy3im8lc6c]

I work in an office and I just spent two hours of my workday that I will never get back fighting with our printer. This tutorial was so easy to follow and the printer is working like a charm now. I really appreciate that you took the time to make this video!!

[@HeyBirt]

Thank for this. I had just started exploring how to get into the printer and came across your video. As you mentioned head cleaning just wasted ink. It took me about 15 minutes to clean it as it had not been done in 2+ years of owning the printer. Now it is working great again.

[@warrenrosenblum2079]

For over 5 years this has been giving me a problem. Multiple print head cleanings either without effect or worse results. I was ready to buy a new printer and then I found your video. Magic, its fixed. I can't thank you enough. Too bad Brother doesn't suggest this method.

[@user-wm9xy2rd4v]

I have just spent over an hour on my only day off to try and fix my printer. I wish I came here first, its all fixed now. Thank you so much :)

[@luvurobert]

OMG!! Thank you so much!!! I've had my printer for almost 2 years, and I guess I've never tried printing a photo before. I just tried printing a 5x7 photo at least 6 times and couldn't figure out why they were printing so poorly. Did the Print Quality Check and my cyan was pretty bad. Cleaned the nozzles, then all 3 colors stopped working completely!! You saved my printer and my sanity!! You are awesome!

[@MacBL1124]

Thanks, great tip! I have a 5 year old MFC-J6935DW. Under the plastic cover, I found sticky gunk and even hair at the well. After removing that, the print head was unclogged after just one cleaning. Wish I had seen your video before wasting $40 worth of ink.

[@bkl93908]

Fantastic fix! I had a ton of ink in the waste area, and cleaning it all out as you show repaired it completely! Thanks so much!!!

[@jeffyounger8092]

Thank you for making this video! I was banging my head against the wall and ready to go buy a new printer. 15 minutes and a pile of inky paper towels later, and it’s working like new! 💫You’re my hero!

[@costanzo98042]

Thank you! Wish I knew this before running the multiple cleaning jobs. Waisted a lot of ink. Great video. It solved my issue.

[@pcdoctor8522]

Your tutorial solved my problem. Thank you so much looking forward to seeing your other tutorials

[@ansdawg]

I blew through a whole set of ink trying to clean my printer head before finding your video and fixing the problem! Thank you!

[@AlexPredakinkshamer]

thank you SO MUCH for this tutorial!! I was going insane trying to figure out why anything yellow I tried to print got streaked/muddy even after cleaning it for the umpteenth time. I never even thought about having to clean under there, you're a godsend!

[@superspeeder]

This worked GREAT on my Brother MFC-J5945DW printer - THANK YOU! I ran out of ink trying to clean the printheads, bought more, and went through half of that again trying to clean them. This worked on the first try! The ink wells were so full that the Yellow had been contaminated with Black and there were a few lines missing from the Magenta plot, but one round of the lightest cleaning pass on both those colors got them working perfectly again. Note: With the printer open and the covers off I watched as it printed the test page. Part of that routine involves cleaning the print heads and both wells end up with a small amount of ink being deposited. Looks like the act of printing a test page also uses some extra ink - making sure you're spending lots of money on ink.

[@carolyang1987]

I also have a MFC-J5945DW, it's different from the machine shown in this video. Do you mind tell me where is the color well to clean? Thank you so much!

[@superspeeder]

@@carolyang1987 it’s in the same area, at the left side of where the print head travels. It’s not easy to get to, but with lots of paper towels folded just right it can be done.

[@jenb8258]

I have had horrible lines in my prints and went through the nozzle cleaning process repeatedly to no avail. I did this cleaning and it worked!! Thanks so much

[@kirilander6302]

I was seriously thinking of dumping the printer - thank you so much for your help. Printer is like brand new!

[@SP-hg6tp]

Great video! I followed your directions and it worked. I was almost about to purchase a new printer. I was going through ink like crazy trying to clean the printer heads. Thank you for making this video!

[@user-jp4ic6fe5z]

not all superheroes wear capes, is the lesson of the day. Thank you my good sir!

[@geoffclark5931]

Thank you for this video. This fixed the problem I had. I had even contacted Brother- they told me the printer was out of warranty and I would need to take it to a service center. I had blown through several sets of ink cartridges trying to get it to print right. I had found that if I did about 8-9 cycles of print head cleaning, it would eventually start printing right again. I suppose that somewhere down inside my printer is several hundred dollars worth of dried up ink! Thanks again.

[@rkshay]

Took me awhile and many paper towels but well worth the time. Prints like new!

[@bennythecloak6537]

Worked a treat! I also had a couple of little piece of paper stuck by the purge reservoir that was soaked in ink and no doubt causing the problem.

[@majeric]

I was a little skeptical about how effective this was going to be but as it turns out, it fixed my problem! Really well! :)

[@taraschauerte5591]

This was amazing - totally fixed my problem. Thank you for posting!

[@rsilvers129]

After trying to clean the heads about 15 times, this solved it on the first try. Actually makes me angry at Brother for the display to not suggest this. Thank you.

[@john_crn]

Big thumbs up and like from here. Such an easy fix for an awful problem - once you know what to do! Thank you so much. IMO this is a huge design fail and Brother should go out of their way to let customers know about this easy clean up job or better yet replace these units with a design that doesn't have this flaw.

[@hannesovermeire6007]

thanks for posting this! Was thinking about buying a new one.. Not needed anymore thanks to this vid. Big thanku

[@bgschigolch6942]

Wow, amazing. You've saved my sanity. Thanks a lot!

[@lindadevenow4470]

Thank you. I needed this video today, and it did the job!

[@JoeLeoneJr]

Just as the others here have said, this fix worked like a charm... Thank you Brad Stone!!! 👍

[@corinavilleda2854]

Thank you very much for such great video, wish also I would of seen it first before purchasing the cleaning solution kit for the printhead, which I didn't get to use.

[@may4friends]

Thank you! My printer works again!

[@jenmcbee3521]

You are a life saver!!!

[@m.turnerbillingsley4471]

Outstanding - worked perfectly

[@karengalla8379]

Problem solved! Thanks so much for this video!

[@uplyftfitness2640]

OMG it worked! Thank you!

[@potcoava]

Great video, thanks.

[@impressions3d]

You saved me a printer! technical support is sending a refurbished unit because they could'nt fix my issue. Print like a new one now.

[@BradStone-1]

Glad that the video helped!

[@catherinedamico1376]

This was great. thanks.

[@surnamesearcher889]

Thank you, thank you! God only knows how much ink I wasted before i found your video!

[@recurringdreambusproject]

Thanks for this, I took it to the official Brother repair center but didn't leave it there as the place was disgusting with no official signage and looked like someone lived in the office, what a joke for a multinational brand! I have also just purchased a new printer for a different purpose and I bought direct from HP better service & better product IMO.

[@thepedronix5318]

thank you sir !

[@ggfillmore5582]

What a helpful video. after cleaning the print ink multiple runs and running maintenance prints, it improved. couldn’t find anything like this in the Brother manual! But when i test printed a full image, the issues returned. lines, grayed out blacks, faded colors, the whole deal. any idea what it might be?

[@mrmadame28]

thank you so much...

[@nebulosity100]

Hi Brad....thank you so much! I also have a different model, (6545dw) but I think I found the right spot. This is probably a stupid question... but should the printer be off when we do this? I've had nothing but trouble with the printer for years now . I've read that it works better if you keep it on. btw, my yellow ink has printed black for a couple of years. Maybe this will fix it! I just 'cleaned the nozzles' twice, and the black section of the print out is now black. fingers crossed that I can do this!

[@BradStone-1]

Yes, it is probably safest to have the printer unplugged whenever you open it up. Hopefully, this fix is going to work with your printer too.

[@LeviairDragon]

Mine doesn’t have ink wells like that, help!

[@user-ef6pl4ss1v]

Brad: we've tried several times to clean the wells, but the print quality is still very poor. Is there something more we can do...before purchasing a new printer? Thanks so much.

[@BradStone-1]

This video address a specific problem and it sounds like your problem may be different. Try contacting Brother tech support and see if they can help. Also, check your warranty. When Brother couldn't fix another head problem that we had, they sent us a brand new replacement printer. Can't hurt to ask.

[@user-cl3kh6qx3i]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! That is exactly the fix I was looking for!!! This has earned my printer a reprieve from being taken out and used for target practice! How often do you recommend this should be done?

[@BradStone-1]

I just do it when it starts acting up again (missed lines and normal cleaning doesn't work).

[@agirlnamedsilk]

Hi Brad, thanks for your video! I've tried to do that to my printer which is a Brother mfc j4535dw but when I opened the printer it looked a bit different than yours. There is a larger plastic cover going over the whole center. I was able to loosen it up but there seems to be something in the center that holds it down and I can't figure out how to loosen this up. Now I can't close it either since all the outer parts of the plastic are now loose and won't pop back in :-0 Any advice?

[@BradStone-1]

First, don't panic. You have got this. :^) I am not a printer expert. However, I was able to figure out the disassembly in the video on my own. Here are a couple of tips: 1) take photos along the way so that you can remember where everything went. 2) most of the panels are probably just clips that can be bent and lifted to release. 3) if something is not coming loose, there may be a screw involved. By bending the plastic slightly in different places where it is loose, you should be able to tell where the screw may be located (the spot that isn't moving). If it isn't obvious, sometimes the screws are under a sticker. 4) remember that the printer is designed to be disassembled in an easy manner. Take a step back and ask try to figure out the easy way that it was designed to be disassembled. 5) don't force anything. You don't want to break something. 6) take your time. Hope that this helps!

[@agirlnamedsilk]

Thank you! I did try to find a screw in the area that feels stuck but couldn't see anything. I got it back together for now, but I'll give it another go tomorrow. Hopefully I'll figure it out. Your video describes my problem to the T! I have a feeling that this could be the problem. @@BradStone-1

[@medhavim2141]

@@agirlnamedsilk Same thing. Mine is J4335 and is slightly different than what is shown in video. I could not open it fully and don't want to force and break anything. Could you open it and clean? If yes, can you please give some inputs?

[@rumorscameras]

do you recommend this printer , we are at the moment looking at this bcz of big cartridge and A3

[@BradStone-1]

Tough question. One the one hand, you shouldn't have to do this kind of maintenance on a printer - it should just work. It is painful on the wallet when lines appear in your print and the cleaning routine consists of squirting expensive ink through the head to clean it. On the other hand, the ink seems to be about as inexpensive as can be found. Overall, I would look hard at alternative printers and weigh the options before buying this one.

[@rumorscameras]

@@BradStone-1 yeah inkjjets dilemma, also toners are wkrse imahe quality and reliable however brother started making subpar lasers and leds thats nust die after few months power sjoply issues, bad cartridge batteries on chips not letting u use ur toner. It s the wkrld of printing

[@michaelbattista1334]

Worse printer ever. Mine worked for about a month and then that’s it. I don’t just have a color problem. I have an alignment problem. Absolute nightmare printer.

[@carolrobinson9311]

Can I use a different window cleaner

[@BradStone-1]

You can probably use any mild cleaner. Water would probably work too.

[@ElevatorWasher5000]

Mine makes it better but then they get clogged again after a few prints

[@RobertMullis]

i swear to god this has been the least reliable printer i have ever owned due to this. i use more ink cleaning the heads than actually printing.

[@brandonamison8950]

Thank you! You literally just saved me $450. Do you have a Patreon or a way to send you a gift?

[@BradStone-1]

So glad that it worked for you. Instead of Patreon, just do something nice for someone this week and we will call it even. 😊

[@brandonamison8950]

@@BradStone-1 I just tipped my garbage collectors. Great guys working in the Texas heat. Thanks again.

[@robertbrynin9919]

I am sure you know what you are doing, but I'm afraid this made no difference.

[@michaelbattista1334]

When I open mine it doesn’t like that. I have a different model. This Brother printer I have is the worst piece of junk printer I’ve ever owned in my entire life, and I have owned a lot of them. Never again will I buy a Brother printer.