Troubleshooting: Leaking / Streaking Toner Cartridge

Have a leaking or streaking toner cartridge? This is when your printer’s pages come out dirty, or the toner powder is scattered all over the inside of the printer. A leaking toner cartridge is an important problem to fix because if left unsolved, the loose toner powder can cause more damage than is necessary.

Check this quick troubleshooting guide to find out what’s causing the problem in your printer!

If you have a leaking toner cartridge, check these:

Toner cartridge
Component failure
Toner cartridges consist of over 50 moving parts that all must work together in order to create high quality printing jobs. If one or more of these parts aren’t working, it could easily leak toner into your printer.
Broken or damaged cartridge due to shipping or being dropped

Drum unit
End of life
This is dependant on the drum unit page yield and if it’s past or not
Component failure
Prevent by ensuring print jobs are done on the correct settings (i.e. print labels on labels, regular print on basic paper, etc.).
Check your toner coverage rate; there’s a potential you could be printing on a higher setting than necessary, in turn wasting extra toner.

All-in-one (drum unit & toner cartridge combined)
End of life
Check all-in-one page yield, and if you’re past or not.
Component failure Broken or damaged
See if it was damaged in transit, or if it was dropped while unpacked.

Have more questions about printer streaking? Reach out to us at 800.587.1173, we'd be happy to help!