Canon PIXMA MX700 printhead immediately coated with ink, smudges

I just purchased a reconditioned Canon PIXMA MX700, and it leaves concentrated cyan and/or black (hard to tell) smudges on all print outs, as shown on the left here: http://support-ph.canon-asia.com/contents/PH/EN/8200225400.html. Enabling "prevent paper abrasion" mode lifts the print head slightly and eliminates the problem, but slows down the printing. I took out the printhead and saw that it was completely coated in black-ish ink, so I wiped it down carefully (without touching the actual nozzles) with q-tips. It printed the next page perfectly, no smudges. The second page I printed after that had the smudges again! I took the printhead out again, and it was coated with ink even worse than before. :-( Anybody know what gives? The Canon techs had previously suggested a deep cleaning, but I didn't do that because it takes so much ink and the nozzle check pattern was perfect. Thanks!