Z5200 will not print matte black completely

[jay-coprints1]

My designate Z5200ps has stopped printing matte black completely. I am on my second MK-C printhead in the past 2 months and just changed the cartridge and it still will not print that color completely. I have done numerous printhead clean cycles and printhead alignments. I cleaned the contacts at the printhead and I even pulled ink with a special syringe at the point where it connects to the printhead to make sure ink was flowing. any help would be greatly appreciated. 

[D Hook]

Does the front panel show any error messages?  How can you tell it's not printing the matte black?  Have you done a diagnostic print?

From the owner's manual:

"At the printer's front panel, select the Image Quality Maintenance menu icon , then Print
diagnostic image.
It takes about two minutes to print the Image Diagnostics Print.
The print is divided into two parts, both of which test printhead performance.
● Part 1 (top) consists of rectangles of pure colors, one for each printhead. This part represents the
print quality that you will get from each color.
● Part 2 (bottom) consists of small dashes, one for each nozzle on each printhead. This part
complements the first, and aims more specifically to detect how many faulty nozzles each printhead has."

If you don't have a manual you can google the model number and download it.  You can also google the service manual which may have other pertinent information about your problem.  If you've already managed to draw ink with the syringe, it's possible you rec'd a bad replacement printhead.  It happens.  You can get a replacement under warranty from HP.  Try to avoid using remanufactured printheads, as they're usually not very good and don't last.  You can buy expired printheads off ebay that will work but try to buy ones that have only been expired for a couple years.  Older than that and they may not work as well.  I'm always tempted to save a few bucks by buying off-brand ink supplies but the hassles are not worth the few dollars saved.

Good luck.  Let us know what happens.