HP Photosmart C7180 printer leaks ink and won't print black.

Replace the printer.

Thank you, Hang, but I hate to throw out such a good printer that seems like it should be repairable. Can the print head be replaced or repaired? Where can I get disassembly instructions for a HP C7180?

Sure you can buy parts, repair manual for printers are hard to find, HP charges techs money to go to school to teach them that stuff, and they probably get the manuals then. Try a web search for that. Is the ink actually leaking, can you see it form a mess inside the printer?

For parts, same thing, web search or ebay.

Don't spend that much money on an inkjet printer next time, get a cheap one, will last just as long, will just have less buttons. Multifunction printers are a lot more prone to failing than regular printers, especially inkjets. If you want a good multifunction printer, get a color of B/W laser one.

Yes, ink has leaked onto the plate below where the print head travels across. I have wiped up quite a lot of ink.

It sounds like the black jet is stuck open on the printhead. You can take the printhead apart and see if you can fix it if you have experience and several hours. The C7180 printhead was not made to be removed. Its like hang-the-nine said. Buy cheap printers. They last just as long if not longer and 1/5 the cost. If you want to sell yours for parts, let me know. 3922277@gmail.com

Thank you, 3922277. I would like to try repairing the printhead on my C7180, but I don't know where to start. I'm pretty good at repairing things, but have never worked on a printer. If I totally mangle it, I haven't lost much. Do I need to take the printhead out of the printer, or work on it in the printer? How do I get the printhead to stop in the center of the printer? It hides over on the right side of the printer when it is turned off. Is there some way to unstick the black jet?
Thanks for your help.

Hey Tmm. Have you looked down in there and saw the hoses going to the printhead? This printer has a pump that pumps the ink from the cartridges through the pump under the lefthand side to the printhead and has relief valves that let some bypass through more hoses into split relief-overflow tanks on the righthand side of the printer.
If you have went through about a two week period without using the printer, the ink will dry up in the pump and the valves on the printhead. If the ink is dried in the printhead valve, that is probably where all your black ink is coming from. The pump hoses are really tough getting the dried ink out but the dried ink can cause the valves on the printhead to stick open.
To get the printhead out, you have to dissasemble the printer almost down to the bare frame to remove the printhead from the slide rods. Be carefull....there is a lot of breakable plastic in there.
To get the printhead to stop in the middle, wait until the printhead gets to the middle and unplug the printer. If you miss, it will slide easily with your hand after being first electrically moved.
You can take the ink cartridges out and blow air through the two holes in the cartridge frame which will go towards the pump one way and the printhead the other way. If you use too much air, you will either blow the valves out, burst a hose or blow the special metallic plastic tape covering the relief-overflow tanks.
You did what I did. Buy the $400 C7180 printer because I thought it would last longer and be a better printer. I mainly stick to the $150 and down printers now. I bought a cheap Cannon Pixma and it was ten times as fast and had a better quality print job than the C7100 series. Pretty much any product is a use and toss nowdays.

P.S. You are going to get messy ink all over yourself but I think soapy water and a scrub brush works best.
Let me know how it comes out.

Thanks, 3922277 _ You have given me a starting point. I'll try taking the printer apart and see what I can do. It sounds like this could take a while, so I may go buy a new one for my wife (she's really bugging me for a printer) and keep the C7180 as a second printer in my office if I'm able to fix it. Thanks again, and I'll post my results.

Hi TMM,

Since I'm now just about to take a decision about my own C7180 that leaks a lot of black ink from the prnting head I really would like to know if you fixed your printer and if you found any good instructions for how to carefully take it apart.

/Mike S