Printer showing "Ink Absorber Pad is near Full" messsage

JohnB47

My Brother J4120DW printer is displaying the above message at the end of each printing session. I've read up a bit online and the actions advised are either 'not easily fixed - pay an expert or bin it' or to go through a complicated process to reset some sort of counter.

The printer is working fine - had it a few years, low workload.

Any advice?

Alderbank

A third option is to replace the pad.

The problem with paying an expert could be that the labour costs more than the price of a new printer.

Resetting the counter is not complicated and works fine, but after a few cycles the pad will be saturated and the print quality will deteriorate.

If you are up to the job, you can buy a replacement pad (about £25 usually) and fit it yourself. Some dedicated souls have even made and fitted their own pads. You can apparently get quite a few replacements from one (unused) sanitary towel.

That's real moneysaving.

Neil49

Take a look on YouTube. There are plenty of videos describing remedies for this. 

IvanOpinion

Alderbank said:

You can apparently get quite a few replacements from one (unused) sanitary towel.

They only seem to absorb the blue ink though.

JohnB47

OK, thanks everyone. I'll have a look online.

Already I see that I can buy a "LED460001 - Small Ink Absorber Pad - Fits Under Maintenance Unit" for £14.39 plus postage. I've fixed most things in the past, so maybe I'll try the 'reset' instructions first then think about replacing the pad.

Grey_Critic

Had this problem with a Canon Pixma a couple of years ago and finished up junking it having spent time trying to fix without success

Le_Kirk

Recently had this issue with my Epson. Came up with three options: -
1. Replace printer with same or similar model for about £300
2. Replace with laser printer for up to £1,000 
3. Buy a replacement kit from company called Printer Potty for £12.99

I went for option 3, followed their instructional video and it all worked fine, including the reset page counter. 

JohnB47

Le_Kirk said:

Recently had this issue with my Epson. Came up with three options: -
1. Replace printer with same or similar model for about £300
2. Replace with laser printer for up to £1,000 
3. Buy a replacement kit from company called Printer Potty for £12.99

I went for option 3, followed their instructional video and it all worked fine, including the reset page counter. 

Thanks. I've just tried printerpotty.com. Their website doesn't work very well using Chrome - when I search for my printer, the resulting page comes up as an overlay, rather than a new page. Tried Edge and that works but the problem is that my printer is not listed as one they supply parts for. Am I missing something?

jshm2

Just put the printer into maintenance mode, and do a "purge". The number is different for each printer. 

But if you're not getting any ink bleeds on your paper then you can just do this instead and keep an eye on your prints. 

JohnB47

jshm2 said:

Just put the printer into maintenance mode, and do a "purge". The number is different for each printer. 

But if you're not getting any ink bleeds on your paper then you can just do this instead and keep an eye on your prints. 

OK. I think I'll look up the codes needed and do a purge (reset counters?). Then I'll just keep an eye open.

I've seen a rather shaky and incomplete video indicating that I can simply remove the back cover and the pad should be visible at the bottom left, fitted to the base. I might just do that out of interest - to see if I can actually locate the pad and see what state it is in.

jshm2

JohnB47 said:

jshm2 said:

Just put the printer into maintenance mode, and do a "purge". The number is different for each printer. 

But if you're not getting any ink bleeds on your paper then you can just do this instead and keep an eye on your prints. 

OK. I think I'll look up the codes needed and do a purge (reset counters?). Then I'll just keep an eye open.

I've seen a rather shaky and incomplete video indicating that I can simply remove the back cover and the pad should be visible at the bottom left, fitted to the base. I might just do that out of interest - to see if I can actually locate the pad and see what state it is in.

Best not to do that until you really need to, as it can spray ink everywhere