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!!

[glenngarland]

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 YouTube 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!!

[PremjithBalakrishnan]

I have never commented on a video before! Never ever. This one made me want to say something.

I was so close to ordering a new printer as it had become annoying with all the repeated cleaning. With a seven year old printer, I was ready to accept the situation as end of life for the device. Your video helped me address the problem and it almost feels like new again. Thank you so much!!

[j.dalsow]

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 YouTube and followed your directions. My printer is now printing perfectly. I cannot begin to thank you enough. You are a true blessing ! ! ! 😁

[KatieCornman]

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!!

[asloz]

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.

[warrenrosenblum]

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.

[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.

[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.

[jeffyounger]

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!

[wmxyrdv]

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!

[MacBL]

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.

[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!

[jenb]

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

[bkl]

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!!!

[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!

[rsilvers]

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.

[geoffclark]

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.