[CQ] 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]

Re: MPC305 Add toner and faded colors

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]

Re: MPC305 Add toner and faded colors

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]

Re: MPC305 Add toner and faded colors

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]

Re: MPC305 Add toner and faded colors

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]

Re: MPC305 Add toner and faded colors

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]

Re: MPC305 Add toner and faded colors

Will add: Update FW

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

[Robertgst]

Re: MPC305 Add toner and faded colors

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]

Re: MPC305 Add toner and faded colors

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]

Re: MPC305 Add toner and faded colors

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.

[tonerhead]

Re: MPC305 Add toner and faded colors

Dealt with this problem for eons now. I think Ricoh has finally gotten it rectified, but you won't like what the repair is. The toner hoppers and pcdu's have all been updated. The updates are for toner flow. My recommendation is to do the update for the affected color channel. Doing all 4 at once would be too expensive to justify. Also there is an SP setting to change the toner empty setting from bottle rotation to TD sensor which we have gone to. Seems to help quite a bit.

[copier tech]

Re: MPC305 Add toner and faded colors

Could you share the SP setting pls, cheers

[tonerhead]

Re: MPC305 Add toner and faded colors

Could you share the SP setting pls, cheers

One sp primarily

SP3100-002 set to 1.

[Robertgst]

Re: MPC305 Add toner and faded colors

Funny thing about this machine, I replaced the fuser since the pages were wrinkling as well I figured that had to be the cause. The load toner message hasn't come back but after replacing the fuser a couple days ago the customer called me back saying the pages are still wrinkling coming out. Anytime I see pages coming out wrinkled I always think fuser but maybe I picked wrong, the test pattern did come out clearer and not as spotty as before. I'll double check the paper path and everything else tomorrow.

[Iowatech]

Re: MPC305 Add toner and faded colors

Funny thing about this machine, I replaced the fuser since the pages were wrinkling as well I figured that had to be the cause. The load toner message hasn't come back but after replacing the fuser a couple days ago the customer called me back saying the pages are still wrinkling coming out. Anytime I see pages coming out wrinkled I always think fuser but maybe I picked wrong, the test pattern did come out clearer and not as spotty as before. I'll double check the paper path and everything else tomorrow.

For what it is worth, the print defects on your pictures looked almost nothing like what I'd expect to see from a machine with a bad fuser. But that's just me.
If the wrinkled areas have no image on them it could be happening where the image is transferred to the paper. Or the registration rollers. I haven't seen that in a while, but I have seen it.
Also it could be the paper that has too much curl. Usually there is a folded corner on the lead edge of the paper if that is the case. In case that is the problem, you might try flipping the paper over in the paper tray and see if anything changes, it's faster and cheaper than a fuser.
A somewhat marginal observation on the recovery of the machine: if you rebooted the machine when you installed the new fuser, there could have been some sort of power outage or surge at the location where the machine is at earlier. That could have caused the machine to print badly until it was rebooted. I could be full of baloney, but I've seen power problems causing weird things to happen enough times that I thought I'd include this here, too.