A while back (3/18) I posted here about problems I had with a
newly-purchased Canon S530D. Every time the printer had been idle for more
than an hour or even less, I had to go through a black ink cleaning cycle or
else the ink would typically fade to nothingness after the first few head
passes. Color inks were never a problem. Various posters suggested turning
the printer off after each use (which forces a cleaning on powerup anyway, I
suppose), though I thought that was not reasonable. Because of the nature
of the symptoms, it seemed more like a capillary action problem rather than
a clog to me (for what my mental model is worth).

Struggled with the status quo for far too long, then when everyone else was
out of the house on vacation, I took the printer to the local authorized
Canon center. They confirmed the behavior. Under warranty, got a new
printhead, and some sort of capping/spittoon/cleaning assembly (what, I'm
not sure). Bottom line, it now prints first time, every time.

Just thought a happy ending story might be nice.

Dave