Phaser 6500 Black print faded (faint, gray)

[Jammycake]

I know this reply is a little late but it might help others.
I had the same issue with my xerox 6505 suddenly printing very faded black text.
Thought it was the compatible cartridge so bought a new one but results were the same.
Tried all the suggestions on here.
Tried the cleans and resets in the maintenance menus
Tried the 4 step reset from one of the replies.
Took out the imaging unit. Dismantled it (quite easy) cleaned it. Didn't work. (Saw this on a YouTube video.)

Ultimately it needed a new imaging unit.
Once new imaging unit fitted and test page printed the printer is back to printing super sharp vibrant prints again.
Actually got the replacement genuine Xerox imaging unit, brand new still vacuum sealed, from Ebay for £40 instead of the £245 the shops were quoting.
Would be well worth checking sites like Ebay for parts and consumables.
Hope this helps others in the same situation. My printer is at 12,500 or so prints. I use compatible cartridges which work great. Machine has been reliable for years

[ozstar]

Glad for you guys. I too changed the black text into dark blue and it's fine but still no black unless it is an image, then black shows.

Any idea how I can do similar to the 6250. I have 2 printers that have the same problem.

[laojiang]

Thank AMZITMAN for his writing, which is Very helpful.  I had relaced toner cartridge three times, but "print faded (faint)" issue was still the same as before. Then I found AMZITMAN's suggestion, which is very clear step by step.  I let motor run 30 seconds at first, the issue was still the same as before; but after I run second time (15 seconds), It works!!  Appreciate AMZITMAN

Laojiang

[rollsfixer]

I have a Xerox 6015NI, and this procedure did not work because the options appearing on the 6015NI menu did not match these instructions for this fix for the Xerox 6500.  So I quit trying and began looking for a replacement printer.  I vowed never again a Xerox printer, but after my following experience, I think I will only get another Xerox. 

A few days later I needed to print text document, and as a work around, I selected very dark blue font to get the printed text I needed.  This worked for what I needed, and what the hey?  That cyan toner on the shelf will be worthless anyway when the printer goes away.   

Then the miracle began....A few seconds after the dark blue print job finished, my printer, all on its own began to make its usual "I am getting ready" noises, and then began to make a runh-runh-runh-runh sound that lasted for about a minute.  Huh, what?  Is it trying to fix itself????  So after it quieted down, I printed a Windows printer test page, and to my everlasting surprise, it was beautiful dark black.  How could it be?  I then configured the printer menu to constrain the printer to print all black and ran the test page again.  Perfect again except the red-yellow-green blue Microsoft logo was in black-white.

I cannot explain this, but I did note the printer is supposed to self-actuate some maintenance cycles when certain things occur.  I did not get any improvement when I previously attempted manually running the maintenance cycles.  Perhaps printing with only cyan toner triggered a maintenance routine that resulted in the self-fix.

I also note that my faded text problem began when the toner ran out before the printer stopped printing, which it never did before.  Every other time it needed new toner, It just stopped printing and displayed a message to change the toner cartridge. This time, when I put in a new black cartridge, I continued to have faded black.   I think it might be like filling a car's gas tank, in that if it runs completely out, it will have trouble starting up again, and that is why the toner cartridges are programmed to not allow any printing when they become critically low.

Who knows.  Maybe the printer is possessed.  That would not surprise me more than what happened.  Sorry to be non-scientific about my experience.  I swear this is what really happened.

[ozstar]

This must be great for that rointer but the 6250 has a different mechancical set up with the imager.

How can I do a similar thing with it please?

[Vlynx]

Thanks again, nivek! This worked for me as well, five years later... I was initially reluctant to mess with the diagnostics menu and found the small picture hard to see the detail on, but the basic principle was effective: I looked at the output  port for the ink and it was dry, so I entered the diagnostics mode as described and ran the motor test on the black (K) cartridge for 30 seconds. Well, it turned out to be about a minute, because I couldn't figure out how to "scroll to Exit Mode": trying to scroll with the up and down arrows didn't work. The motor started making a horrible rattling noise after about 20 seconds and I was afraid it was broken. I eventually turned off the printer and turned it back on to restart and get out of the diagnostics menu. That worked. The next page I printed looked the same as before: faded black, but the 2nd one and the rest after that are beautiful!

[jlphillips]

Worked on my 6500.  Thanks!

[Enlight2k]

This solves your issues when you use non Xerox toners also. This is the solution for Xerox 6600 unit also.

[plumbermike]

Have had similar problem with another 6505 after only about 4500 images. This solution worked just great. Tried changing cartriges but to no effect before. Thanks so much !

[MarcusChon]

Yeah, it worked for me too