MPC305 Add toner and faded colors

[Robertgst]

I have a customer who claims they have a repeat add toner message but i seen nothing that indicated it was saying to add toner. I seen the other thread about the add toner for the 305 but I didn't want to piggyback onto that thread since this may be doing something different. Below are a few samples of the color test pages from the machine and all the colors seems to be affected. The images are spotty and I'm not sure exactly what to replace at this time. What makes it even weirder is the counter on the machine reads: 14,193 Black and White(total), 1040 Color(total). So I doubt the drums are passed their life expectancy, the fuser shows no signs of wear and the toner doesn't rub off the page after its been printed so a bad fuser also seems unlikely. Am I looking at replacing the transfer belt? I noticed this when doing the color registration/calibration, which of course failed. Id sensor check passed, toner density sensor check failed, forced toner supply, procon, etc. I'm just unsure of what I should be ordering to fix this machine.

2yl07s3.jpg1xxvmd.jpgang2th.jpg

[Zaxxon]

You should order a new machine...

my humble guess is once again the tonerhopper, I always change the tonersupply motor when I'm "back there".

change the toner detection board as well, the one with the flimsy contacts.

[Robertgst]

The hopper or sub hopper with the rubber "screw"? But aren't each one of those individual for each color, which means all four of the sub hoppers would have had to fail? I've seen one fail before on a black and white machine, the rubber auger ripped off and was just sitting in the toner. Also what is the toner detection board? Does it go by another name because this is the first i've heard of it, unless you mean the RFID boards on the end of each toner bottle? Sorry for all the questions, I'm still really new.

[Polarbear]

These machines just seem to be a headache of all sorts.

I have seen one where the charge roller cleaner holder [on the rear side] broke (on 2 pcdus in the same machine) and this affected copy quality and caused the weirdest noises in the machine.

I would suggest testing the pcdus in another machine, as the light copies could be due to a toner supply issue.

Swopping the ones in the machine for new ones, will have the machine working for a while, until the toner runs out and the machine does not know what to do about it (as seems the case as present).

[Zeldaman]

Hi there!
I think saxxon means the BRB-board (D1175160). I also agree with the toner-supply-unit. If the machine is not a new one the chance of sealing-failure is given.
It sounds strange, but the colour-pattern is allways looking faded but the prints of the customer normaly look better.
Greetings...

[copier tech]

Because all of your colours look slightly faint I would rule out ALL the toner hoppers.

To be honest you never get a good solid print on these little 305's anyway, that test print looks like most of my 305's out there! this model is not designed for high quality printing.

Could just be poor quality paper, poor transfer, feed the test page back in after it's gone through the fuser, & print it again.

You could take out say the magenta drum, & spoon in toner manually & see if the M solid improves.

Also if it's in dusty environment, clean the lasers, only two of them, very easy to access, one screw & take the top cover off.

[Zaxxon]

Will add: Update FW

Have seen packed toner in these tonerhoppers, giving false add toner.

[Robertgst]

Thanks all, I thought of having the customer run a few print jobs to see what it looked like from there but they looked busy so i ran the test pages in printer sp. My boss had me out of my territory yesterday and today so I didn't get a chance to go back yet. But noew I can go through this post as I'm working on the machine, I never thought to check the lasers either light images might be toner or dust on the lenses as well, but to be honest this is the first time I've seen one of these color 305's.

[bob marley]

to be honest this is the first time I've seen one of these color 305's.

You will need a service service manual

[Dragord]

The faded colours may be poor contacts on the laser ribbon connectors. The advice is to change them but I found swapping the laser units and giving them a clean normally suffices.