Only time I seen anything like this, was when a piece of paper got folded and trapped between the printhead and the drum. Had to remove the ink delivery tray and it was just sitting there.

Are you talking about the exit module?

kinda, it was actually just kinda lodged in front of the head, was spraying the ink all over it, it was heavier card stock, no idea how paper was making through there without getting jammed, but it did. slightly different model, it was an 8560.

I'll give it a try

That didn't fix the problem, I've cleaned the wiper/ cleaned the maintenance blade , went through all the cleaning that xerox recommends the only thing I can think of is the printhead. While observing through the underside of printer via the maintenance kit slot the printed circuit board on the underside of the printhead has ink drizzles all across it and I'm assuming it has something to do with my print issues. I've attached an image of the prints out I'm getting for anyone to confirm my hunch.

yes, that looks like a printhead issue, also, did you say the board had ink on it? did someone move this printer before letting it cool down for 45 minutes? If so, good luck.

Printhead was draped on ink all over topside and underside of printed circuit board. Safe to say the repair was complete!! Back to printing good quality prints again.