I have never heard of replacing ink absorber pad? My printed has stopped because it says the absorber pad is almost full. Where can I buy, how do I fix

Hi Rolando,
This error relates to the ink absorber being almost full. You should be able to press ok and continue (unless you've already done that in which case, the ink absorber is probably full). http://canontechsupports.blogspot.com.es/2014/09/how-to-fix-error-1702170317041715e08-in.html

Many ink-jet printers have a pad in the case to absorb the ink from cleaning cycles. Often these show "full" long before they are actually full, and you can reset the counter and continue using them. I found your answer here:
How To Reset Purge Counter on brother mfc j4710dw

The ink absorber in the MP160 is located in the rear righthand corner in the base of the printer. It is a thick felt pad which gradually gets saturated with ink which is sucked from the cartridges each time you hear the whirring noise before printing. I dismantled my printer once and washed and dried the pad before putting it all back together again. If you ignore the "waste ink adsorber full" warning for too long there is a risk excess ink will leak from the base of the printer. Dismantling the printer to get at the absorber pad is a major exercise. Some newspaper placed under the printer will buy you some time and stop damage to your desktop.

Most ink-jet printers are designed to be replaced when the ink absorber is full. (The error message comes up when the count of pages printed gets close to the expected number of pages before failure of the printer.) These pads absorb waste ink during the print head cleaning cycle and when full will smear ink everywhere.

To temporarily clear the message, press the OK button. Canon offers a set of replacement parts through their service centers. However, if the printer is out of warranty, this may not be worthwhile. See this site: http://usa.canon.com/cusa/support/consumer/printers_multifunction/pixma_mx_series/pixma_mx700?CMD=MIXED_SEARCH&mName=PIXMA+MX700&mType=PIXMA+MX&pageKeyCode=ekbresults&searchString=waste+ink+absorber+almost+full&BASIC_SEARCH_CURRENT_TOPIC_ID=1078&BASIC_SEARCH_CURRENT_TOPIC_TYPE=0&RESULTS=RELEVANCE&RELEVANCE_START=1&RELEVANCE_COUNT=10&CONFIGURATION=1011&PARTITION_ID=1&TIMEZONE_OFFSET=null&USERTYPE=1&isSecure=false for more information about Canon Support. If you get the replacement kit, it will include the directions for resetting the printer's waste ink counter.

If you want to replace the absorbers, be prepared. This is a messy job and requires disassembling the printer from the top. On the Canon printers that I have dealt with, there are several absorbers. One group is below the spot where the print cartridges rest when idle. The rest are down at the absolute bottom of the unit. These are rubbery pads that sit in plastic wells in the case.

The pads can be reused. You need to rinse them under running water until the water runs clear. Then dry the pads. When you replace the pads, with the printer off, press and hold the Stop/Resume button then press and hold the power button. Release the Stop button but not the power button. Press the Stop button twice in a row and then release the power button.

Next press the Stop button 4 times in a row then press and hold the power button until the printer turns off.

I hope this helps.

Cindy Wells
(This assumes that your MX printer has the same buttons as other MX printers.)

Open your printer.

To protect hands from Ink wear thin latex (or similar) gloves.

Locate the Waste Ink Pads on the inside of your printer. They are on the right hand side and are quite small.

You can remove the pads and the holder with a gentle pull.

Using a tissue, soak up as much ink as possible and clean the area around the waste ink area.

There is one more waste holder in the right back bottom of the printer. A kind of sponge. There are few screws and plastic parts to be removed and this sponge needs to be washed, dried and placed again. Be careful and patient. This is no understatement. Take a photograph (even with your cell phone) so you can trace back your steps. You also need to take care as you lift the slide/carriage. Below this you find 5 little springs.

Carefully replace the holder and the pads. Close printer.

Whilst printer is disconnected from the mains power, press and hold the power button and reconnect to ac power.

Release the power button.

Press the power button again.

The waste ink absorber is a pair of pads at the bottom of the printer paper path (one on each side). You can order replacement pads from a service center. Alternatively, you can resuse them. First, you need to pull the old pads (have plenty of paper towels handy). This can take nearly disassembling the printer. Then rinse the pads with running water until they are clean and then let them dry, if you want to reuse them. Once dry, reinsert them and reassemble the printer.

Next you need to reset the counter for the waste ink absorber. With the printer plugged in but off. Press and hold the Stop/Reset button then press the power button. Once the Power light is lit, press the Stop/Reset button twice while holding the Power button. Release the buttons in any order and the printer is in a service mode. With the lights Green, press and release the Stop/Reset button four times (the light will go orange and green alternately and will be green at this command). Set the counter to zero. Press the Power button to save the setting. Then turn on the printer normally.

Do not reset the counter until the waste ink absorber is cleaned/replaced, you will get ink everywhere.

Please note that the printer was designed to fail about the same time that the waste ink absorber counter hits the point that locks the unit. (ie the waste absorber doesn't get full while the unit is under warranty), the printer may have additional failures soon.

I hope this helps.

Cindy Wells

Inkjet printers have a fibrous pad inside them that collects the waste ink from cleaning the print head. Over time, this pad fills up with ink and can no longer hold any more. When this occurs, the printer indicates a "waste ink full" error.

The waste ink absorption pads cannot be emptied, only replaced.

Replacing the waste ink absorption pads is something an authorized canon service facility can take care of for you. Once they are replaced, it'll be functional again.

Under the place where the inks park is a tray full of asorbent pads. It was the most awful thing to get to in my Pixma ip 2000. If you have a day to spare, and a work table, and some long needle nose pliers or maybe hemostats, and the usual tools, you can take the machine apart to get at it. Note which pads (and parts) go where, everything has to go back where it came from. The pads will rinse out with water, lots of it.

This is the ink counter reset instructions:
1. Service mode: Menu->Scan->Copy->Scan( one at a time in sequence)
2.Select "test mode"
3.Select "(8) ETC
4.Select "(4) EEPROM CLEAR
5.Select "(1) INK COUNT
6. press the OK button
7. Press the STOP/RESET button(returns you to the TEST MODE sub-menu
8. Press the ON/OFF button (which resets the printer).

There you go.

mp170 error 5b00