Thank you ever so much for taking the time to post this solution.
I, as others had done, had dropped my iPhone 4 in the (clean) toilet. It still worked fine, but had the issue with battery running down fast and not turning off. I was pretty sure that it must have been from water damage.It happened not long before my phone was off warranty, but I was sure that Apple wouldn't honor it because of the water damage. Even though it's been going on for months, as I was off of work for a shoulder injury for the past 8 months, it wasn't really a big issue. I just went back to work and I keep my phone in my locker at work. I live in SF so I generally rely on taxis to get back and forth to work.
This is when it became a problem. After 8 hours of work, my phone was dead, or nearly dead. I had no way to turn it off to save the battery life. The phone wasn't under warranty any longer, and although I didn't really want to tear it apart, I thought I was going to just have to break down and do it.
As soon as I started to research this problem, I knew that it wasn't something that I wanted to deal with Apple on. All the things that they told people that didn't work, I've been through before. And guess what, they didn't work for any of the other 2 problems I've had with other iPhones. Both of them had to end up being replaced.
So when I came across your solution, it made some sense, and sounded reasonable.
I do think that does have something to do with being dropped in water, however. I think that the lint, which seems to be the ultimate culprit, gets wet and then gets in between the connections. When it dries, the lint is more trapped in there, having, with the assistance of the water, formed more to the shape of the connectors.
When I first tried it, it worked. Great! But then I tried it again about 5 min later. And it didn't work. I couldn't see anything else in there, but what I ended up doing was to take some cotton swabs, pulled some so that it was hanging off of the end, but not tearing it off. This was so I could use that part that was sticking out, along with alcohol, to clean the connectors. They were dirty, too.
I did that, made sure it was dry, then turned it off. I tried it about 5 or 6 more times and voila, it worked every time.
Thanks again and I hope this added information helps someone as well..
The best way to repay a favor is pass it on!