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Spilled coffee on trackpad and speakers (but not keyboard) of 2012 MacBook Pro. It worked fine after. What steps should I take now?

Luckily, it wasn’t much (iced/watered down) coffee with milk, and most of it went on the keyboard cover so I could quickly get it off. Nothing got on the keyboard.


But a bit dripped down in between the screen and bottom half of the laptop (don’t know the technical term for this). Are the speakers located here? They sounded fine.


A little got on the trackpad as well and it worked fine after I wiped it clean, no stickiness. I’m not sure if any got down in the crack for the 10-15 seconds it was wet before I wiped it off.


I still unplugged it, turned it off, and put it upside down.


Is there anything else I must do?


I don’t have any tools if they’re needed to open it up. Do I still need to take it to Apple, if they’re even open in my state, to make sure nothing corrodes?


Thank you!

Mac Pro

Posted on Aug 17, 2020 9:44 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 17, 2020 11:24 AM

Liquid damage is pervasive and progressive – your Mac may work now, and may malfunction in a few weeks as a result of the recent spill.


You can try running Apple Diagnostics, but it would be a good idea to contact support.

2 replies

Aug 17, 2020 11:33 AM in response to seecasey

seecasey wrote:

Luckily, it wasn’t much (iced/watered down) coffee with milk, and most of it went on the keyboard cover so I could quickly get it off. Nothing got on the keyboard.

But a bit dripped down in between the screen and bottom half of the laptop (don’t know the technical term for this). Are the speakers located here? They sounded fine.

A little got on the trackpad as well and it worked fine after I wiped it clean, no stickiness. I’m not sure if any got down in the crack for the 10-15 seconds it was wet before I wiped it off.

I still unplugged it, turned it off, and put it upside down.

Is there anything else I must do?

I don’t have any tools if they’re needed to open it up. Do I still need to take it to Apple, if they’re even open in my state, to make sure nothing corrodes?

Thank you!


I would have robust backup plan in place.



2012 is getting long in the tooth... what are you going to do; if it were me I would wait and see if issues develop.


Vintage and obsolete products - Apple Support


Spilled coffee on trackpad and speakers (but not keyboard) of 2012 MacBook Pro. It worked fine after. What steps should I take now?

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