My M553 printer is printing vertical streaks down the sides of the page

[Gary116]

My HP M553 printer has started leaving vertical lines down the edges of the page. The lines are sometimes blue and sometimes black. They do not appear anywhere in the middle of the page. If I print double sided, the vertical lines will appear on the edges of both front and back. If I print single sided they appear on the printed side only. I have run the clean page program twice with no results. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to look for the issue?

Kind Regards

Gary116

[ALS-77]

This is most likely from your ITB (Intermediate Transfer Belt). This is common when using non-OEM toner cartridges as they tend to clog up the waste toner auger and cleaning blade at the end of the belt. You can try to open up the end where the auger is and clean it out, but the problem usually returns within a few days or a few weeks. I usually replace the ITB for my customers when this happens as it will buy a few months without problems, but the belts are very expensive, so cleaning it may be your best option.

I have also seen posts where some modify the auger system to try and make it work more efficiently.

[Gary116]

Thank you for the help.  The problem is not fixed, but I think you are on the right track. I removed the ITB and cleaned it.  The ITB had toner residue on it that matched the stripes that are occurring on my printouts. I also noticed that my blue toner cartridge has the exact same stripes on the the cylinder. I reassembled the printer and printed a page. The vertical stripes on the print out where still there. I opened up the access door on my M553 and the stripes were back on the ITB. Do you have suggestions for a next step? I am not sure what the auger system is so I have not tried cleaning that.

[ALS-77]

Well, if your cyan toner cartridge has the exact same pattern of stripes, then your cyan toner cartridge needs to be replaced as the toner is not being cleaned off of the drum properly by the internal cleaning blade, so it is always putting toner on the belt. There is no way to clean that part. As for where the auger is on the belt, it is located at the narrow end that has a black plastic cover about 3" wide and covers the belt from one side to the other. If you want to take that cover off, be very careful as it is tricky getting it off without 1) breaking the little latches that hold it on, & 2) the toner may fly out if not careful.

[Gary116 · Accepted solution]

Thank You ALS-77

When I responded earlier, I had only ran 1 sheet of paper through the printer and determined that the vertical stripe was still there. After printing several more sheets of paper, the vertical stripes have disappeared from the ITB, the Cyan toner cartridge, and most important from the printed sheets of paper. It appears that the initial cleaning of the ITB has solved the problem... at least for the moment. My thoughts are to try it for awhile, if it returns then I will clean the ITB again and try to clean out the auger.  Thanks again for your help.

Gary116

[ALS-77]

Glad to hear the issue has been resolved, at least for now. I do feel though that it will likely return, as I've seen it happen many, many times. But, you have some options to look at now. Good luck!  🙂