Digital BW, The Print

One of my Epson 1160 printers, after sitting unused for a couple of weeks, was
not printing properly. This machine happens to be loaded with Epson colour carts
at the moment. To begin with, the nozzle check showed a lot of gaps in all of
CMY. With a few cleaning cycles it only got worse -- all colours disappeared.

When I moved the head away from the park position, in preparation for a dose of
Windex, I saw something amiss -- there was a strange piece of material sticking
up inside the machine, about where the colour heads would park.

I removed this object with tweezers. It seems to be some kind of thin foam
material, thoroughly soaked with black ink. It's a bit less than 2 inches / 50mm
long, and looks like it is die cut, perhaps part of a gasket or seal. I have put
a picture of it here:
http://www.marquis-kyle.com.au/temp/whatsit.jpg

I'll take the printer to an Epson repairer as soon as I can. But in the meantime
I would like to know what this object is, and what kind of repair the printer is
likely to require.

Any informed suggestions?

Peter Marquis-Kyle
www.marquis-kyle.com.au