Epson Error Code 000043: Meaning, Causes & Fix (EcoTank)

A six-digit EcoTank printer-error code (L3110/L3210/L3250 family and siblings): Epson's public documentation shows it only inside the generic 'Printer error — turn the power off and on again; if the problem persists, contact Epson Support' handling and publishes no 000043-specific definition.

Error 000043 is the code owners of EcoTank L-series machines — the L3110, L3210 and L3250 and their relatives — meet when the printer stops dead, often with the alarm lights blinking and, on connected computers, a 'service required' style status report. It is also a code about which the public record needs careful handling, starting with what Epson itself says: in Epson's user-facing manuals and support pages, 000043 has no published definition at all. EcoTank guides document the printer-error event and its response — turn the power off and on again; remove any paper or protective material; if the error persists, contact Epson Support — and the six-digit number is presented to the owner as evidence to report, not as a diagnosis to decode. This page therefore corrects one premise before anything else: the batch research map described 000043 as having 'scanner/motor intent', a sibling split against 000041's paper feed. The scanner half of that split could not be verified anywhere — not in Epson's documentation, and not in the repair literature derived from Epson's service documentation either. What owner and repair reports for the L3110/L3210/L3250 actually cluster around is the paper path and the carriage: hidden or partial paper jams, feed sensing upset by fragments and debris, paper loaded badly enough to fight the mechanism, and carriage-load problems. In other words, the lived behaviour of 000043 on the models that show it most is a mechanical-load report wearing a service-code uniform. That reading also fits its family position: its neighbours 000041 (documented in service-derived sources as a paper-feed motor excess-load error) and the carriage-load codes around it are all mechanism-load reports, and 000043 sits naturally among them as the L-series' general mechanical stop. None of that elevates any single mechanism into 'the' meaning of 000043 — Epson has not published one — but it orders the owner's work correctly: paper path first, carriage path second, documented power cycle, and Epson's service channel when a clean machine still refuses. The sections below are built in exactly that order, and the FAQ states the premise correction plainly so nobody builds a scanner theory on an unverified map entry.

What causes the 000043 code on a Epson printer?

A hidden or partial paper jam

The leading lived cause of 000043 on the L-series, and the one repair reports return to most: not the dramatic jam you can see, but the fragment you cannot — a torn corner left at the feed entrance, a strip across the paper path, a sheet that accordioned under the rollers and was only partly recovered. A fragment in the feed path makes the mechanism work against resistance it cannot clear, and the printer stops with a fatal code instead of a jam message because the sheet sensors never told a coherent jam story. Every 'no paper anywhere' 000043 deserves a torch-lit, cover-open search before any other theory, including the rear of the path where fragments retire.

Paper loaded in a way that fights the feed mechanism

Damp, curled or wrinkled paper, a stack loaded above the guide mark, edge guides pinching or floating loose, mixed sizes in one stack — Epson's paper-feed guidance in its support FAQs names these conditions for feed problems generally, and on the L-series they can load the feed mechanism hard enough to trip a fatal stop rather than a simple misfeed. The tell is timing: a 000043 that arrives as the printer tries to pick a sheet, on paper that has sat in a humid room or a refilled stack of mixed stock, should be retested with a small stack of fresh, flat, correctly guided plain paper before the machine is condemned.

Debris and contamination in the feed path

Paper dust, lint, a dropped label, a paperclip from the desk — the feed path accumulates the desk's small accidents, and the L-series' compact path gives debris little room to be harmless. Debris under a roller changes its grip; debris across a sensor changes what the printer believes about paper position; either can convert an ordinary feed into a load the mechanism reports as fatal. Epson's own feed-problem guidance includes cleaning the paper path, and for this code a deliberate clean-out — power off, path open, everything that is not printer removed — is a documented-category check, not folklore.

A carriage-load problem

The six-digit family around 000043 is a family of mechanism-load reports — 000041 beside it is the paper-feed motor's excess-load error in service-derived documentation — and the carriage is the other great moving load in the machine. Obstruction in the carriage's travel, debris on its guide, or anything that makes its startup traverse drag can present in the same fatal-stop form, which is why owner reports of 000043 sometimes describe the code arriving with the carriage mid-travel or stuck. The owner-level content is the inspection, not a repair: power off, look along the travel line and the park end, remove what does not belong, and never force a carriage that resists.

An internal fault on a verifiably clean machine

When the paper path is empty and clean, the paper is fresh and correctly loaded, the carriage line is clear and the code still stands after one documented power cycle, the remaining category is internal — a feed or carriage mechanism, sensor or board fault that owner documentation does not break down. This is the outcome Epson's generic text is written for: 'if the problem persists, contact Epson Support'. Naming it plainly matters, because owners burn days re-cleaning a clean machine when the code has already given its answer; the service channel works from the exact code plus the history that the physical causes were checked and excluded.

Checks to run before you replace anything

1. Note the timing and the lights: at power-on, at first paper pick, or mid-job — and on no-LCD models, note the light pattern. First-pick timing points at paper and feed; power-on timing points at the startup mechanisms; both start with the same physical pass.
2. Do Epson's documented step once: turn the power off and on again. A code that returns immediately has told you the power cycle is not its cure; proceed to inspection instead of repeating it.
3. Power off and unplug. Open the printer and search the paper path with a torch — feed entrance, under the rollers as far as you can see, the print zone, the output path and the rear. Remove every fragment whole; a torn corner counts as a jam even when the sheet 'came out'.
4. Remove the paper stack entirely. Fan it, discard curled, damp or damaged sheets, and reload a small stack of fresh plain paper below the guide mark with the edge guides touching the stack without pinching it.
5. Inspect along the carriage's travel line and park area for debris, pooled ink or anything resting where it should not; remove finds gently and never force the carriage.
6. Clean the paper path as your model's manual describes (Epson documents paper-path cleaning and, on many models, a cleaning-sheet routine for feed problems).
7. Power on and test with the plainest possible job: a nozzle check or a single-page copy. Passing the exact movement that failed is the only real clear.
8. If 000043 stands on a clean, correctly loaded machine, stop and contact Epson Support with the model, the code and the timing — that is the documented endpoint, and the code is the evidence they ask for.

How to fix epson error code 00043?

1. Clear the hidden jam completely: fragments out whole, path verified empty by eye and torch, then a plain-paper test job. Most owner-level 000043s end here, which is why this fix leads.
2. Correct the paper story: fresh flat stock, correct size settings for what is loaded, guides set to the stack, stack under the mark. A code generated by paper fighting the feed cannot survive paper that stops fighting.
3. Remove debris and clean the feed path per the manual; on models whose manual offers a paper-guide cleaning routine, run it — feed grip restored is feed load normalised.
4. Free the carriage's world: remove whatever obstructed its line; if the carriage itself is jammed fast or something in its drive is visibly damaged, that is where owner fixes end and service begins.
5. Accept the documented endpoint when the machine is clean and the code persists: Epson Support or an authorised service provider, with the code and its timing reported. There is no owner reset, adjustment program or parts swap that Epson documents for 000043.
6. If settings were disturbed while troubleshooting (paper size/type changed for tests), restore them to match the paper you actually use once the machine is back — a settings mismatch is not a cause of this code, but leaving test settings behind manufactures the next feed problem.

The part that usually fails: No Epson-published user part for this code

Epson assigns 000043 no owner-replaceable part in its user documentation, and this page invents none. The consumables in the story are paper itself and, on these tank models, ink — neither is a 'fix part' for the code. Mechanism, sensor or board findings belong to the service channel, which diagnoses from the code and the machine rather than from the number alone; any part a service quote names should trace to that hands-on diagnosis.

How to reset / clear the 000043 code

Epson documents no reset for 000043. The documented response is the power cycle — off and on again — after the physical causes are removed, and persistence routes to Epson Support. Two confusions deserve direct answers. First, 000043 is not the waste-ink counter: Epson reports that condition in plain language (ink pad nearing/at end of service life), so the third-party adjustment programs marketed as Epson resetters are not a documented treatment for this code. Second, light-pattern 'resets' circulating for no-LCD models are not Epson-published procedures for clearing a fatal code. A 000043 that survives a clean machine and one power cycle has completed its documented owner story.

Epson documents no master reset for error codes, and the power cycle is the whole of its documented clearing step for the fatal families: turn the power off and on again, with any paper or protective material removed first (the XP/L guide tables word the E-01 remedy exactly that way, and the WorkForce/EcoTank manuals word the printer-error messages the same way). Warning codes clear by their own documented actions — a jam removed and the on-screen button pressed (W-01), a cartridge pressed down (W-12), the start button pressed to resume printing at W-11. The waste-ink condition is NOT cleared by any power cycle or owner reset: E-11 holds until Epson or an authorised provider replaces the pads, and on maintenance-box models the box's own messages clear when a genuine box is fitted. Restoring default settings from the setup menu resets settings, not error states, and Epson does not document it as an error remedy anywhere in these families.

Why does the 000043 code keep coming back?

A returning 000043 is usually a cause that was reduced, not removed: a fragment that shifted deeper instead of coming out, paper stock that is fine dry and fights when humid, debris that migrates under rollers. Log the returns against conditions — which paper, how long since the last jam, power-on or at-pick timing — because the pattern separates the mechanical recurrences an owner can still cure from the internal decline that belongs to service. A code that returns faster each time, on verified-clean paths and fresh paper, has crossed that line; take the log to Epson Support rather than repeating the same clean-out.

How to stop 000043 coming back

• A hidden or partial paper jam: The leading lived cause of 000043 on the L-series, and the one repair reports return to most: not the dramatic jam you can see, but the fragment you cannot — a torn corner left at the feed entrance, a strip across the paper path, a sheet that accordioned under the rollers and was only partly recovered. A fragment in the feed path makes the mechanism work against resistance it cannot clear, and the printer stops with a fatal code instead of a jam message because the sheet sensors never told a coherent jam story. Every 'no paper anywhere' 000043 deserves a torch-lit, cover-open search before any other theory, including the rear of the path where fragments retire.
• Paper loaded in a way that fights the feed mechanism: Damp, curled or wrinkled paper, a stack loaded above the guide mark, edge guides pinching or floating loose, mixed sizes in one stack — Epson's paper-feed guidance in its support FAQs names these conditions for feed problems generally, and on the L-series they can load the feed mechanism hard enough to trip a fatal stop rather than a simple misfeed. The tell is timing: a 000043 that arrives as the printer tries to pick a sheet, on paper that has sat in a humid room or a refilled stack of mixed stock, should be retested with a small stack of fresh, flat, correctly guided plain paper before the machine is condemned.
• Debris and contamination in the feed path: Paper dust, lint, a dropped label, a paperclip from the desk — the feed path accumulates the desk's small accidents, and the L-series' compact path gives debris little room to be harmless. Debris under a roller changes its grip; debris across a sensor changes what the printer believes about paper position; either can convert an ordinary feed into a load the mechanism reports as fatal. Epson's own feed-problem guidance includes cleaning the paper path, and for this code a deliberate clean-out — power off, path open, everything that is not printer removed — is a documented-category check, not folklore.

Retrieving stored fault codes on Epson printers

Codes appear in three places depending on family. Display-code models show the E-/W-/I- code on the LCD itself, and the model's user's guide prints the matching table under 'Checking Error Codes on the LCD Screen'. EcoTank models without an LCD report through blinking-light patterns plus the computer: connect the printer and open Epson Status Monitor 3 (Windows driver, Maintenance tab) or the printer utility, which shows the printer's status and error detail the panel cannot. WorkForce and EcoTank LCD models show 'Printer error' with the 0x## or six-digit number on screen, repeated in Status Monitor. Separately, the network connection report — printed from the network settings — carries its own E-1..E-13 code in its header block, a different system from the LCD codes despite the shared letter. Always read a code inside its own system: LCD table, Status Monitor, or network report.

Other Epson printer error codes

See the full list on the Epson Printer error codes hub.

Codes 000043 gets confused with

000041 — A six-digit EcoTank printer-error code. Epson's public documentation gives it only the generic 'Printer error — turn the power off and on again; if the problem persists, contact Epson Support' handling; service-derived repair documentation identifies 000041 as the paper-feed (PF) motor excess-load error — the feed mechanism working against more resistance than it should. Error 000041 needs its evidence labelled before anything else, because it is documented in two different registers.

0x97 — A WorkForce 'Printer Error 0xXX' display: Epson's manuals document the message form and one response — turn the power off and on again, remove any paper or protective material inside, and contact Epson Support if it persists — but publish no 0x97-specific definition. Error 0x97 is one of the most-searched Epson codes and one of the least documented by Epson itself, and an honest page has to hold both facts at once.

0xF1 — A WorkForce 'Printer Error 0xXX' display from the same family as 0x97: Epson documents the message and the response (power off/on; remove paper or protective material; contact Epson Support if it persists) and publishes no 0xF1-specific definition. Error 0xF1 belongs to the same WorkForce printer-error family as 0x97, and it inherits the same documentation reality: Epson's user manuals and support pages present the whole family as 'Printer Error 0xXX' with a single documented response, and they never publish what distinguishes one number in the family from another.

E-01 — A printer error has occurred (Epson's own table wording, Expression Home XP and EcoTank L guide families): open the scanner unit and remove any paper or protective material inside the printer, then turn the power off and on again. E-01 is the best-documented code on this page, because it belongs to the one Epson system whose definitions Epson actually publishes: the E-/W-/I- display codes printed in the 'Checking Error Codes on the LCD Screen' table of the Expression Home XP and EcoTank L user's guides.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

Facts on this page were checked against manufacturer documentation: support2.epson.net · download4.epson.biz · support2.epson.net · epson.com · epson.com · epson.com · download4.epson.biz