METHOD OF EXTENDING THE LIFE OF A PRINTBAR OF A COLOR INK JET PRINTER

A method of extending the useful life of a printbar for black ink in a multi-color printbar, full width array color ink jet printer by checking each nozzle in the printbar for droplet ejection; identifying any nozzle which fails to eject a droplet as a problem nozzle, and substituting at least one droplet from a nozzle in another printbar having a different color of ink. The substitute fill-in with a cyan droplet, cyan and magenta droplets, or cyan, magenta, and yellow droplets for process black prevents a missing spot and provides adequate printing quality for black printing, such as, for text, so that immediate printbar replacement is avoided, thereby extending the printbar life.