Neptune 2s wear and tear?

[SticKx911]

I've had my neptune 2s setup as my go to printer that printed solid (and non stop sometimes) for over a year, but now, it's constantly failing to complete jobs. Everything that does finish comes out stringy, regardless of the type or age of the filament.

I replaced the ptfe tubing hoping it was something simple, but that didn't help.
I've tried a number of nozzles.
Bed level has been dead on, and I always watch the first layer to adjust as needed.
Belt tension is good.
No upgrades, or functional changes from stock.

I just ordered an extruder replacement, but beyond that, is there anything else that time/use would cause a printer to take a huge dump in print quality?
I don't want to put a ton of money into what was basically a cheap printer, but it served me well for a while so I'd also hate to just toss it.

 

[modi123]

Extruder would have been my first guess as well. Check the gears for wear as well.

 

[NightReaver]

See if the extruder gears need to be cleaned. They can get clogged with filament residue and start losing grip.

 

[notarat]

Modi and NightReaver are probably spot-on as far as diagnosing the issue.

Over time the extruder gear wears out so it can't grab the filament with the same pressure so you get inconsistent extrusion.

Had to do that with my CR6 Max a couple times because I kept it running non-stop.