Canon MP 140 Printer

Hello, And sorry to disagree with you, but in this case, it is certain that no manufacturer mentions the ink absorber of the head cleaning in the documentation intended for the general public. For the simple reason that none of them wants to explain the purpose of this part. And even less want to see a user taking apart the printer to tinker with it!!!! However, in internal documents, CANON explains to its technicians how to replace it. These documents sometimes leak on the interweb, but they are no less strictly reserved for authorized technicians. @Castanetlehaut: The procedure to reset the counter associated with the ink reservoir/absorber is here: http://imprimante-en-question.blogspot.com/2007/09/remise-zro-des-compteurs-dimprimantes.html And the corresponding video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHy4d7PlKaE Attention: the reservoir is not any less full and it could very well overflow. Even if you’re likely to have some margin, you will have to intervene in one way or another at some point. If possible before ink starts dripping from the printer... Best regards.

Thank you very much for your advice. Of course there is nothing about it in the printer manual! After resetting the counters, I will try to locate and empty that famous reservoir. Best regards

Hi,

@ puces2nimes - July 4, 2013 at 01:03
The handling of this material is indeed reserved for technicians but, in this case and at this stage, it is not about that: it is only about trying to "unclog" the absorber, regardless of the number of pages printed...
In the absence of an error code it is risky to reset the counter and I assume that this reset could have been performed too often and led to the situation of clogging.

@ castanetlehaut - July 4, 2013 at 09:39
It is not, of course, a matter of removing the synthetic sponge acting as an absorber.
This absorber is mentioned in Canon's documentation.
Since you have marked this topic as resolved, I will not dwell on it.
In the future, you may perhaps ask your printer to perform print tests less often: that "fills" the absorber unnecessarily.

Contrary to what puces2nimes (And sorry to contradict you but for once, it is certain that no manufacturer mentions the ink absorber of the head cleaners in documentation intended for the general public.), the absorber is indeed mentioned in the online documentation:

Excerpt...

Cleaning the inside of the machine If the printed paper is dirty, the inside of the machine may be dirty. It is recommended to regularly clean the inside of the machine to always obtain optimal print quality. You can clean this part in two ways: See Cleaning the lower platen See Cleaning the protruding parts inside the machine Important When using Photo Paper Plus Double Sided / Glossy Photo Paper, front and back) PP-101D, make sure to clean the inside of the machine before starting a print. Cleaning the lower platen This section explains how to clean the inside of the machine. When the inside of the machine becomes dirty, the print support may also become dirty, therefore we recommend regular maintenance. 1 Ensure the machine is powered on, then remove any paper that may be in the Automatic Document Feeder. 2 Fold a single ordinary sheet of A4 or Letter size in half, then unfold it. 3 Load this sheet, and only this sheet, into the feeder with the crease facing into the machine. Position the paper thickness selector lever to the left. See Paper Thickness Selector Lever. *1 Place the paper after unfolding it. 4 Press the Maintenance button several times until J appears. 5 Press the [Black] or [Color] button. The paper cleans the inside of the machine during its travel through the machine. If the ejected paper is dirty, clean the inside of the machine again. Source: https://fr.canon.be/support/consumer_products/products/fax__multifunctionals/inkjet/pixma_mp_series/pixma_mp140.html?DLtcmuri=tcm:40-1026687&page=1&type=download . If the problem persists after another cleaning, the protruding parts inside the machine may be clogged. Clean them according to the instructions. See Cleaning the protruding parts inside the machine. Cleaning the protruding parts inside the machine If the protruding parts inside the machine are stained, wipe them with a cotton swab or similar. Important Before cleaning the internals, turn the machine off. Caution Do not touch the transparent film (A), the film cable (B), the ink absorber (sponge part) (C) or the metal parts. 

Thank you both for worrying about this issue. However, I would like to provide the following information:
- I have never done a test print page besides at the machine startup. And every cartridge change goes without any problem.
- I print 90% of documents (text) in B/W.
The message indicating that the cleaning ink reservoir is almost full allows me, for the moment, to “force” the machine (by pressing the “print” button) but for how long?
I am discovering, thanks to the documents provided, that it is not a reservoir (which I simply planned to empty) but a sponge and above all that a counter (which must be neutralized) will keep sending me the error message.
In conclusion, I think I’ll buy another printer before I keep pushing this one! that would be wiser! But I do not think less that this type of message resembles upselling!
Thank you for your help. Best regards