Metis leaking toner inside.

**Larhal** · 11-06-2015

Hi All,
I have a MP C4503 that when I went to service it there was a huge amount of Cyan toner on the back of the developer and leak over the inside of the machine from above the toner transport unit, covered the laser slit glass with toner. Well after a good hour of hovering it I went looking for the cause. At first I thought it was the gasket that seals against the drop tube not sealing but after pulling out the toner transfer hopper and motor I found that it was leaking from the seal of the transport hopper to at the top mating surface.

Now we use only original toner and this is the first service to the unit, 250K pages. Never touched that section before.
Has anyone else had this issue?

Thanks, Larhal

**TonerMunkeh** · 11-06-2015

I have had a couple of toner pumps fail on the Metis, but only yellow. Vac the pump out and look at the helical screw that takes the toner down to the dev unit, you may find it has sheared from the gear.

**blazebusiness** · 11-06-2015

Originally Posted by TonerMunkeh

I have had a couple of toner pumps fail on the Metis, but only yellow. Vac the pump out and look at the helical screw that takes the toner down to the dev unit, you may find it has sheared from the gear.

No toner pumps on this model. Subhopper toner system and toner transport motor only. Certainly an interesting issue. We have not seen leaks in the rear developer/pcu area on this series. If it is just one color leaking.....I would suspect an issue with a clog in the waste toner exit pipe in the pcu itself causing toner to backup in the pcu or focus on the where the toner enters the dev unit as a probable source of the leak. I could be wrong but I think there is a shutter that opens on the back of the dv unit to let toner in. Maybe the dv unit shutter is only partially opening.

At 250k you are getting real close to the replacement time for the color PCU. They are rated for 270k

**slimslob** · 11-06-2015

I had one earlier this week where it was the black unit. Try the adjustments in the attached. For the Metis, change 3501 001-004to 3300 011-014.

**slimslob** · 11-06-2015

Originally Posted by slimslob

I had one earlier this week where it was the black unit. Try the adjustments in the attached. For the Metis, change 3501 001-004to 3300 011-014.

Forgot the attachment.Service Program (SP) Settings.pdf

**Larhal** · 11-06-2015

If it was a clogged waste toner pipe the toner would be all over the drum. The only area that was covered with toner was from the sub hopper down to the dev. unit and all over everything else.
Thanks for all your input, I will look at these issues and see what works. Hope the hell I never run across that again. Cyan toner everywhere!

Larhal

**TonerMunkeh** · 11-07-2015

Originally Posted by blazebusiness

No toner pumps on this model. Subhopper toner system and toner transport motor only. Certainly an interesting issue. We have not seen leaks in the rear developer/pcu area on this series. If it is just one color leaking.....I would suspect an issue with a clog in the waste toner exit pipe in the pcu itself causing toner to backup in the pcu or focus on the where the toner enters the dev unit as a probable source of the leak. I could be wrong but I think there is a shutter that opens on the back of the dv unit to let toner in. Maybe the dv unit shutter is only partially opening.

At 250k you are getting real close to the replacement time for the color PCU. They are rated for 270k

Sub hopper, pump, same thing. They both move toner with a helical screw in a pumpy fashion.

**blazebusiness** · 11-09-2015

Originally Posted by TonerMunkeh

Sub hopper, pump, same thing. They both move toner with a helical screw in a pumpy fashion.

They both move toner----agreed. No offense but, apart from that---- design is a bit different.Toner pump technology depended on a good seal/vacuum and a clutch and rubber hose for proper toner flow. Sub hopper has a different construction/design. And Those new sub hoppers have had a bunch of issues/failures of their own. Mpc4503 toner end issues.pdf

**Oze** · 11-09-2015

We've had one with a seized auger motor piss waste toner all through the machine.

**blazebusiness** · 11-09-2015

Originally Posted by Oze

We've had one with a seized auger motor piss waste toner all through the machine.

I've had that issue with those also. Wish they had not changed the design and kept the toner pumps. Ricoh actually fixed a lot of issues with the toner pump technology when they modified the pump design back in 2011. If you stuck to oem toner the pumps were very reliable and when they failed----they were very easy to change on the MPC's.