Carrier jam a thin plastic piece has come out of my printer making the carrier slam into the sides of printer will this piece go back in and where does it go?

The encoder strip is most likely the problem. Unplug the power from the printer. Open the front cover and move the cartridge carrier to the center. You should see a white ribbon cable, a thin plastic strip and a black belt with teeth.
The thin plastic strip is the encoder strip. It rides in a sensor on the back of the cartridge carrier that you will not be able to see. Reach in with the first finger of either hand and carefully strum the strip as if playing a guitar.
The strip will need to be lowered slightly and brought towards you slightly. Please be careful not to break the strip or your printer will not function. Once you believe the strip is set correctly, plug the power back and try printing the self test. If it slams to the left again, the strip is not yet set correctly.
If you cannot repair the strip, please let us know so that we can assist you further.

Please Note: Fixing the encoder strip is a delicate procedure. During the troubleshooting, if the strip breaks, you will not be able to use the printer.

Google your printer, try pcappliancerepair.com. This item goes from one side of your printer to the other, passing through the cartridges holder. Look for the places it attaches. You may have to move the cartridge holder to the center to install the plastic.

If the printer carrier is slamming into the side of the printer, please try the following:

1. Disconnect the power supply from the back of the printer.
   
2. Open the front cover of the printer where the cartridges are located.
   
3. Look for two black bands that span from left to right (they should have one serrated side and one smooth side). Just above the black bands there is a transparent strip; this strip is called the Encoder strip.
   
4. Flick this strip lightly with your finger to make sure that it is running smoothly from left to right. You may need to do this two or three times. CAUTION: Do not pull the strip!
   
5. Close the front cover of the printer and reconnect the power supply.
   
6. If the problem persists, then its a hardware issue and you should contact Lexmark for replacement of the printer.

The encoder strip is most likely the problem. Unplug the power from the printer. Open the front cover and move the cartridge carrier to the center. You should see a white ribbon cable, a thin plastic strip and a black belt with teeth.
The thin plastic strip is the encoder strip. It rides in a sensor on the back of the cartridge carrier that you will not be able to see. Reach in with the first finger of either hand and carefully strum the strip as if playing a guitar.
The strip will need to be lowered slightly and brought towards you slightly. Please be careful not to break the strip or your printer will not function. Once you believe the strip is set correctly, plug the power back and try printing the self test. If it slams to the left again, the strip is not yet set correctly.
Please Note: Fixing the encoder strip is a delicate procedure.

Try to print any document.

If this failed then printer cannot be repaired, if the printer is under warranty then Lexmark will replace the printer else. I am sorry to say you need to purchase a new printer

your's tech expert
Jeeth

Is the thin strip of plastic transparent ? and is it completely out its places? Please let me know and are you getting any error message ...

hi,
Follow the wizard on the following website , to help you to pinpoint the problem
http://tinyurl.com/3nh59x


Thanks
Proton

THis solution I copied from another post. It worked for me as well
First you need to open the printer. Unplug from power. Then lift the scanning device, you can partially remove it when pushing the "hooks" close to where the lid is connected (careful with the cable connections). Then remove three screws in the cover of the bottom part and with some fiddling around you can remove the cover. Again be careful with the cable connections. Of course don't do it if you are worried about warranty or breaking the printer.
The plastic strip has slits at each side to attach to the inside back of printer, on the left side is a down ward facing arrow, the plastic strip feeds through the back middle of the cartridge carrier and then the slits are to be inserted to the metal tab like pieces on the back sides inside the printer on the right side (facing printer) it will look like a small rectangular hole with a longer metal tab like piece sticking out & on the left is a smaller squared like hole with a flat smaller metal like tab which will line up if the plastic strip is feed through the back of the cartridge carrier properly. This should allow the cartridge carrier to glide properly & work as it should, with no more banging.
Success

sounds to me that the carrier dont know its location check to see if the plastic indicator srip cable that runs from the right side of the printer atatched to a small spring through the back of the in carrier to the left side of the printer attached to a metal tab this will be all inline from right to left if this cable came off.. it will have the same symptoms u discribed, hope this helps

I had this same problem, I found a long skinny thin plastic strip had fallen off & caused the problem for me. The plastic strip has slits at each side to attach to the inside back of printer, on the left side is a down ward facing arrow, the plastic strip feeds through the back middle of the cartridge carrier and then the slits are to be inserted to the metal tab like pieces on the back sides inside the printer on the right side (facing printer) it will look like a small rectangular hole with a longer metal tab like piece sticking out & on the left is a smaller squared like hole with a flat smaller metal like tab which will line up if the plastic strip is feed through the back of the cartridge carrier properly. This should allow the cartridge carrier to glide properly & work as it should, with no more banging! Sorry my tech. terminology isn't good, I am not Knowelegable with this sort of thing, just sharing my experience :) HTH!

I loaded to new cartridges into the printer, switched it on, cartrigde went from one side to the other with a bang, error on printer reads, clear the carrier jam, cn you help?
ed