Ink waste absorber

I have a Cannon MP160 and a message comes up that the ink absorber is almost full. I am still able
to print by pressing the start button. Can I fix this myself?

Here's what I did for i250...

1. Disconnect printer from AC power (take out AC cord or power off your power strip). Disconnect USB PC cable from printer.
2. Press and HOLD the POWER button (untill step 7).
3. Reconnect power cord (turn on power) to the printer.
4. The indicator should be green.
5. Press and release the RESUME button , the indicator should be orange.
6. Press and release the RESUME button again, the indicator should be green.
7. NOW Release POWER buttons.
8. NOW Connect the printer to PC (USB cable).
9. NOW...I opened "Printers" and saw that a "copy" of my printer (i250 or i350) had been made. Make that COPY your default printer and all should work...It did for me.

You might have to go through the "GUTS" of the beast and cleaned out the PADS (they are actually vacuum pads that the INK is sucked through during a HEAD cleaning). I heard it can be a very messy undertaking.

I'm not sure how much life this will add to your printer.
Good luck!!!

On http://www.neilslade.com/Papers/inkjetstuff11.html you can find how to manually clean the waste ink pad.

It's not needed, but could improve quality. It seems you need to be a bit mechanical for it.

Go to
http://www.cyber-ink.com/member-canon.html
Most helpful
Simba

WASTE TANK ALMOST FULL or FULL ERROR MESSAGE PROBLEM
This is true with many Canon Ink Jet Printers: Eventually, you'll get an error message "Waste Ink Tank Almost Full, Contact Your Canon Repair Center". Canon is totally sly about this, and is actually a pretty ridiculous design flaw that they should be ashamed of- planned obsolescence. Anyway, don't let this problem discourage buying an otherwise fantastic Canon printer.
This problem will also be indicated by flashing orange lights on your printer. Different flashes for different models.
LOOK IN YOUR PRINTER MANUAL TO KNOW WHAT NUMBER OF FLASHES INDICATE. In any case, your computer printer software will also tell you exactly what is going on.
You need to do this after you get the WASTE TANK ALMOST FULL message and the printer continues to work, but BEFORE the WASTE TANK FULL message and the printer completely stops. I think. ;-)
Here's the fix:
The waste ink take is actually just a felt pad that sits under the printer mechanism inside the case and absorbs the ink from your cleanings. From what I gather, its both a time consuming and expensive proposition to take to Canon to fix. And they won't tell people how to do it themselves. Well, I WILL. And this works.
Remember of course, you've got to cycle the cleaning process a huge amount of times to get this to occur.
But when it does, there is a fix-it-yourself solution that is both safe and effective for the printer, and free. You have to be slightly mechanical to do this. If you get this message and you've never used a screwdriver and are all thumbs, well, Canon gotcha. But give it a shot even then, or give it to someone halfway coordinated to do this for you.
You may RESET the printer code first if you like or do it after you clean the pad
In some cases you may need to REMOVE THE PRINT HEAD FIRST or the reset code will not work. This was true of the S900 and i960 so, remove the print head first before doing this reset.
This is the correct code for the S and I (like i960) series of printers. (M series below this)
1) Power off printer
2) Hold RESUME button then press and hold POWER. (The beeper MAY sound once, or may not depending on your model.)
3) Hold POWER and Release RESUME.
4) Press RESUME twice then release both POWER and RESUME buttons.
5) When the indicator lights steady, press RESUME 4 times (for the S900, 3 times for the 8200 apparently).
6) Press power to set data.
7) Print away!
For other codes for other printers and more info go here to this big forum (but try the above first) Fix Your Own Printer Generally many of Canon's models use exactly this same code, the i models use the same code, all the s models use the same code.
I did this and it works fine! No more error messages and so...

Hope it helps you all!

Bye

please empty the waste toner bottle an re use it after clean

Hello,

Your question is somewhat lacking in detail. We need to know the make and model of your printer at the very least. Any other information would also be beneficial - like an indication of your technical skill level and how confident you would be in completely removing the printers mechanism to access the waste ink absorber.

Thanks

I posted the same question as you lot as my waste ink tank was nearly full and was told that my printer is nearing the end of its life. like you, I tried everything and got nowhere, so I think this person who told me that may be right. :-( Hope this helps!