What Ink Does the Brother MFC-J4355DW Use?

Quick answer: The Brother MFC-J4355DW uses four individual LC506 cartridges, and it is one of the few Brother inkjets with three full yield tiers: LC506, LC506XL and LC506XXL. LC506XXL Black reaches ~5,000 pages. Critically, this printer does not take LC406, despite the near-identical model number to the MFC-J4335DW and J4535DW.

Brother MFC-J4355DW Ink Cartridges at a Glance

The Brother MFC-J4355DW takes four individual cartridges. The same LC506 family also fits the Brother MFC-J4555DW, MFC-J5010DW, MFC-J5110DW, MFC-J6560DW, MFC-J6960DW and the Workhorse MFC-J5115DW and MFC-J6975DW.

The LC406 trap. The MFC-J4335DW and MFC-J4535DW take LC406. The MFC-J4355DW — this printer — takes LC506. One digit apart in the model number, two entirely different cartridge families, and they are not interchangeable. Check the model badge on your printer before ordering, not the box it came in.

Save on LC506 / LC506XL / LC506XXL

Castle Ink does not currently stock LC506 cartridges, so there is nothing for us to sell you here — and we would rather say that plainly than pad the guide out. This is a newer family and we add lines as supply becomes reliable, so it is worth checking back. In the meantime you can find LC506 cartridges on Amazon — as an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Everything above is the information you need to buy the right cartridge wherever you buy it.

How to Replace Ink in the Brother MFC-J4355DW

1. Leave the printer switched on. Open the ink cartridge cover on the front of the machine — the carriage does not need to move on this design, because Brother mounts the cartridges in a fixed bay.
2. Press the lock release lever for the cartridge you are changing and let it pop forward, then pull it straight out.
3. Unwrap the new cartridge and remove the orange protective cap. Do not touch the black chip contacts or the ink port.
4. Slide the new cartridge in following the arrow on the label — each color is keyed so it will only fit its own slot — and push firmly until the lever clicks.
5. Close the cover. The printer primes the line automatically; on a first install after running dry this can take a couple of minutes and is normal.
6. Print a test page from the control panel to confirm all four colors are laying down evenly before you send a real job.

Troubleshooting Tips

"Cannot Detect" or "Unable to Detect Ink": Power the printer off, remove the cartridge, and wipe the chip contacts with a dry lint-free cloth. Reseat until the lever clicks audibly — a cartridge that is in but not latched is the most common cause of this message. If it persists across every slot, the problem is the machine's contact block rather than the ink.

Blank pages or a missing color: Run Print Quality Check from the Ink menu, then Cleaning on any color that shows gaps. Two cleaning cycles is the sensible limit; if a channel is still missing after that, the blockage is in the head and needs a different approach.

Prints look faded straight after a cartridge change: Brother primes the line automatically but a long dry spell can leave air in it. Print ten pages of ordinary text and re-check — most cases clear themselves.

Ink levels look wrong: Brother's gauge is an estimate based on drop counts, not a measurement of what is left in the cartridge. Treat "low" as a prompt to order, not a reason to stop printing.

Official Brother MFC-J4355DW Resources

• Brother support home for your model
• Brother genuine supplies finder

Bottom Line

The Brother MFC-J4355DW is well served by the LC506 family, and the high-yield tier is where the cost per page actually falls. Buy the largest tier your printer supports, keep the model number written down somewhere you can find it, and ink stops being something you think about.

Written and reviewed by William Elward — Founder of Castle Ink, 20+ years in the printer & imaging supplies industry.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does using compatible LC506 cartridges void my Brother MFC-J4355DW warranty?
No. Under the U.S. Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, a manufacturer cannot void your printer warranty solely because you use compatible or remanufactured cartridges. If a specific cartridge causes damage, that damage is not covered — but the rest of the warranty stands.

How are these page yields measured?
To the ISO/IEC standard for the cartridge type, at 5% page coverage on plain paper. That is a deliberately modest amount of coverage, so heavy graphics, photos or dense tables will always yield fewer pages than the rating. The numbers are useful for comparing cartridges against each other, not for predicting your exact month.

Is the MFC-J4355DW an INKvestment Tank printer?
It is an INKvestment printer, but Brother does not badge it "INKvestment Tank" the way it does the LC406 models. In practice you still get long cartridge life — the in-box starter set is a 1,800-page black plus 750 pages of each color — but the naming difference is real and worth knowing when you compare models.

Which tier should I buy?
If you print more than a couple of hundred pages a month, XXL almost always wins on cost per page: ~5,000 black pages versus ~1,000 for standard is a five-fold difference for nothing like five times the price. Standard LC506 only makes sense for very light users or as a stopgap.

Shop Compatible Ink at Castle Ink

Find the right cartridge for the Brother MFC-J4355DW and every other printer we cover on the Find Ink by Printer page, or work through a fault at our printer troubleshooting center.

Buy the Brother MFC-J4355DW on Amazon: Brother MFC-J4355DW on Amazon — as an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

See also: printer says ink cartridge not recognized | faded or streaky prints | printer printing the wrong colors