Nasty Smudges on Left and Right Margins

[StraightEdge]

When it comes to the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 5 dinosaur, I'm hoping there'll be a few people (or more) that'll already be familiar with how to clean it out, because I'm honestly a novice. Oh, sure, I can figure out how to open the parts that already open up easily in front and back, I can pull out the toner cartridge and move out the paper cartridge. All that's easy enough. However, how do I clean out the machine to correct this smudge problem?

On the other hand, would it really help very much if I did figure out how to clean it? Is this caused by the age of the toner cartridge, or something else that can't be corrected by cleaning? I'd very much appreciate some help with this. This has been plaguing me and my boss for a while, and the sooner I can fix this for him, the happier we'll both be.

[Brian]

The HPLJ 5 very often has toner in it that has spilled out of the cartridge but that usually doesn't cause smudging.
The smudging can be caused by the cartridge itself, look at the drum under the shutter, if it gets older you'll see marks on the sides.
If the cartrige is alright, an other cause could be toner buildup in the fuser, if this is it cleaning won't help much, it needs to be replaced.

[redcow]

Print a few sheets, while printing open the top cover, don't worry everything will stop(hopefully). pull the toner out and look at the paper below. If it's smudged, replace the toner. If it's not smudged replace the fuser. The mylar is probably ripped.

[woodss]

Do a half test, lift the lid of the printer while its printing, and check if there is streaks on the toner's drum if there is the same streak then its the toner.

then go to the back of the printer and take out of the fuser and check for any damage if there is damage there it will corresspond to the streak on your printout.

[msr976]

Rule of thumb: left side fuser, right side cartridge