MP C2500 faded black prints (CMY are OK) - replace drum?

[julietkilo]

Hi, and thanks for reading.
This is my first post, as I just registered to ask a "noob" question. Sorry about not having contributed before plunging in and asking for help...

I have a Ricoh MP C2500 that's a few years old now. It has about 77,000 BW prints/copies under its belt. However, the black toner is plentiful according to the printer, which reports 80-100% K toner left.

The problem is that I am getting faded black prints as per the attached images. CMY colors print perfectly.
On occasion, a full page of black copy will print fine (under the same conditions!), but most of the time black prints like in the images or worse.

Am I right to assume the black drum is the most likely culprit, and should I try to replace that first?

Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

ricoh_mp_c2500_1.jpgricoh_mp_c2500_2.jpg

[slimslob]

Re: MP C2500 faded black prints (CMY are OK) - replace drum?

Bad drum will normally cause background not light print.


From looking at your samples you most likely have two possible causes.

1. The laser shield glass for the black is dirty, either dust or toner haze. There should be a long blue plastic stick mounted on the inside of the front door for cleaning the shield glass.
2. Black developer depletion. Often the result of using after market toner. Replace the black developer. Procedure is in the service manual.

[julietkilo]

Re: MP C2500 faded black prints (CMY are OK) - replace drum?

Thanks for answering so fast!

I stupidly forgot to mention that I had alread tried cleaning the glass with the plastic stick (however, on closer inspection I now see that the "felt tip" of the stick is looking quite worn so I'm gonna see if I can fix that and give it another try).

I really appreciate the advice about a bad drum not causing light print, you may have saved me a $150 unnecessary purchase there, bud!

I'll look into the developer depletion issue too... I guess that a worn developer would not result in a warning/error message on the C2500's LCD display?

Thank you so much for all your help so far.

[julietkilo]

Re: MP C2500 faded black prints (CMY are OK) - replace drum?

Black developer depletion. Often the result of using after market toner. Replace the black developer. Procedure is in the service manual.

PS: It looks like the toner packaging we have is original, but I can't rule out that after market toner has been used previously. I only have about 6 months with this printer (switched jobs) so I'm afraid I don't have the full story on it from any time before that.

[TonerMunkeh]

Re: MP C2500 faded black prints (CMY are OK) - replace drum?

That looks like the laser shutter to me.

[morgansterne]

[mga]

Re: MP C2500 faded black prints (CMY are OK) - replace drum?

A good clean may be all it needs remove laser unit and clean mirrors etc only if you know what you are doing.

If clean look at K developer assy make sure dev is even on mag roller

[TonerMunkeh]

Re: MP C2500 faded black prints (CMY are OK) - replace drum?

Just remembered there is a firmware update for this issue.

[julietkilo]

Re: MP C2500 faded black prints (CMY are OK) - replace drum?

Thanks for all your input guys. Because of your posts I was able to narrow my search down to the laser shutter, which was tremendously helpful.

I believe I have now identified and corrected the problem.

With information from another thread, I opened SP and went to Copy - 2 - 914 (Dust Shield Shutter Motor).
Then I checked the shutter's "Stop Delay: Open" and "Stop Delay: Close" values.

They should have both been set at 38ms (default value), but "Stop Delay: Open" had been set to 9ms.
After changing it to 38ms, the prints appear flawless. Fingers crossed it stays like that.

Nobody else working here has the knowledge to enter SP, and I have never used it before on this printer.
Looks like the service tech who was here last maybe changed this value for some reason (maybe without intending to do so).

Thank you again so much for all your help along the way!

[julietkilo]

Re: MP C2500 faded black prints (CMY are OK) - replace drum?

The non default data print wasn't readable, unfortunately (all the bits I needed to read were faded).
But other than that, you absolutely nailed it. So glad I found this forum where accumulated experience like yours is so incredibly valuable to others. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge.

[8T2]

Re: MP C2500 faded black prints (CMY are OK) - replace drum?

That looks like the laser shutter to me.

Not sure how badly it's frowned upon by everyone but we generally just removed the shutter altogether without running into any noticeable issues.

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[anothertech]

Re: MP C2500 faded black prints (CMY are OK) - replace drum?

Not sure how badly it's frowned upon by everyone but we generally just removed the shutter altogether without running into any noticeable issues.

I think removing the shutter on a machine is kept on the QT, it's like a taboo thing, techs do it but they don't talk about it.

[slimslob]

Re: MP C2500 faded black prints (CMY are OK) - replace drum?

I think removing the shutter on a machine is kept on the QT, it's like a taboo thing, techs do it but they don't talk about it.

Was common practice in the past. Especially with this model line. Here's an example. https://www.copytechnet.com/forums/r...52=#post231824