Print issue resolved by removing BLACK ink from YELLOW vent - how did it get there?

[ChristinaLaurik]

How can BLACK ink get onto the YELLOW cartridge vent?  The reason why I am asking, is because I recently had the following issue and would like to know how to prevent it from happening again.

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Yellow ink failure progressed as follows...

1. Printed with lines in the image.
2. Printed a 'dirty' yellow (as if black was mixing in).
3. Stopped printing yellow completely.

My response:

• Multiple 'Clean Printhead' actions + all other options available.
• Print various images of yellow tones & shades.
• Checked the YELLOW cartridge vent.

Outcome:

1. Found contamination with BLACK INK - which I removed using an ear-bud cleaner (from the vent & where the vent attaches to). 
2. Carried out "Clean Printhead" & found the yellow printing is OK.
3. Continued the print jobs.

[Kumar0307]

@ChristinaLaurik, Welcome to the HP Support Community!

This is a very unusual case where you had Black ink clogged the vent on the Yellow ink cartridge. The only assumption that can be made here is that this could have happened in the Service station of the printer where the cleaning process of ink cartridges takes place. 

Check for any leakage in the Black ink cartridge.

If you don’t use your printer often, sometimes ink in your Ink cartridge will dry and lead to clogging. This may trigger the change in cartridge signal on your printer, or could simply prevent ink from making its way onto the page. Unclogging these vents will probably resolve the issue.

For more info, refer to 'Make sure the ink cartridges are properly vented' in step 5 mentioned in this document.

Keep me posted for any other assistance.

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