I received a brand-new (refurbished? not sure) ip4000 Pixma tonight
from Canon, even though my defective one was two weeks past warranty.
And yes, it came with a new print head and new ink. So, thanks to this
excellent customer service, my opinion on Canon has done a 180:
(reversing my earlier, knee-jerk vow) I will definitely continue buying
Canon products

Cool beans... though technicaly we never ruled out your enviroment or
user as the cause of the issue. Well user is not likely unless you
were printing on cats or some such, more likely is power surge...
something that is always suspect. Given your oddball issue it would be
wise to check your surge protector.. if it blinks it means it's not
working and should be replaced. Many are not spendy, which is good as
they are ment to be kamikaze devices.

Not saying it was the root cause, but it is a good printer, and worth a
few bucks to keep it protected in the unlikely event your MOV failed.