CL7000 Black Coverage Gradually Lightens

Tonerbomb, DaZ, and Paper_Jam: Thanks for your help on this issue. I have successfully enabled the auto td adjust feature and the black coverage has returned to normal. You really helped me out- thanks again...

[Paper_Jam]

Ask them to enable 'auto TD adjust' for you. (SP3125-XXX)

This will help maintain a constant level of toner concentration in the dev units but the side effect is the machine will calibrate far more often.

DaZ nailed it. If you are doing just a few prints at a time, all the time, the machine isn't getting enough use to sense the TD (toner density) correctly.

[Cipher]

Ask them to enable 'auto TD adjust' for you. (SP3125-XXX)

This will help maintain a constant level of toner concentration in the dev units but the side effect is the machine will calibrate far more often.

[Tonerbomb]

useage not so much as time affects these units. I think the drum unit expected life is 60000 and the developer is either 80000 or 100000.

I am experiencing a gradual lightening of the black toner over time on a CL7000 unit. This first occurred within a few months of purchasing the unit. At that time we had a Ricoh tech come out for a look (it was still under warranty). I believe he ended up doing a forced toner refresh, which worked out great- for a while. Gradually the lightening/patchy black coverage returned.

After speaking with Ricoh support on the phone, I purchased and installed a new black development unit and photoconductor unit. Not surprisingly, after changing these units the black coverage returned to normal- it looked fantastic.

Fast forward several months later and the issue is coming up again. Now, this unit is in a university setting and is subject to a very, very light workload and is nowhere near the rated lifespan of these consumables.

Does anyone have a ideas/suggestions I could try? Should I not be expecting these consumables to last more than a year regardless of useage? Is another forced toner refresh in order? Thanks in advance for any help- I do appreciate it...