Docucolor 252: Black Ink Is Printing Light

[Joe Arseneau]

Keep reading the thread you are responding to since it has way more information and troubleshooting beyond the drums and toner.

[jaibhavanipan@gmail.]

I have DC 250 in this also four colors coming very light but I have ink full. Drum and tonner chip also 100%
Please guide me how to resolve my issue....

[Joe Arseneau · Accepted solution]

So if it is print only, that seperates the issue from the copier and lays it on the Fiery.

Do a calibration if you have the tools required (Spectrometer or Color strips)

Just restore the calibrations if you don't (in CWS Server > Calibration > Restore device

If that also fails and don't mind losing jobs and customizations just do a Fiery reset. But that will delete all jobs, all mailboxes and put it on DHCP after it reboots. This will put it to out-of-the-box condition with the exception that all the patches will be retained. Server > Configure > Server > Backup/Restore > Restore default Fiery Settings

If it still has not changed at that point you would need an Engineer because the software and the copier hardware are all eliminated as the cause. The only thing remaining is the Fiery hardware (Very unlikely) and the SCSI cable (Connects Fiery to copier and would be my guess, safe bet would be to totally shut down, undo the thumbscrews and reverse the cable between the two and boot back up)

[Brendan Browne]

Thanks for the response Joe.

The cartidge was swapped early because the first report from the office was that the printer was out of ink.

The Drums look good, R1 is at 89% life remaining and the rest are at similar levels.

The room wasn't well lit so I did a blank copy and got a gray page with some small smudged dark spots.  Shined a flashlight to increase the light and I got a nice dark, black page.  

[Joe Arseneau]

The toner should not replaced until it shows empty.

The Drum is the more likely component as it puts the toner on the paper. It is below the toners and listed as R1.

If it is only on prints the issue could be and is most liukely that the Fiery is out of Calibration.

Easiest way to get it to copy and show just how black it is capable of copying is to open the lid to expose the platen, and assuming a bright lit room, copy nothing. This will copy solid black that fills the entire page coverage area.

If copies and prints are fading in black only, it is absolutely the drum at fault.

[Brendan Browne]

A few months ago we acquired a Docucolor 252 refurbished.

Just now we've noticed the black ink is printing as a light gray although the ink levels are at 100% in cartridge 1 and 40% in cartridge 2.  Changed the 40% cartridge for a new one and still no change.

All other cartridges are around 80% and the colors are printing fine.

We did have error 093-317 a few weeks ago that we resolved by following the directions here: http://www.justanswer.com/printers/5dbf6-dc-250-received-fault-code-093-317-aren-t-black.html

Currently there is no error on the machine. 

Not sure if others have seen this issue.