Replacing the trackpad on 13" macbook pro

Hi naja15
Please can I ask you some more details about your spill? I just spilt some tea on my MBP but only the trackpad - is that what you did? And you said it stopped it working properly? Hmmm.....I'm a bit worried now! I mopped it up straight away, can it leak down from the trackpad into the insides? I'm not too clued up on the assembly and electronics side of things 😟
But I should probably turn it off for now shouldn't I? And hopefully it won't have leaked in? Aaaaagggghhh! Can't believe I let that happen 😟 And I'm writing a my PhD thesis right now - great timing!
I only bought it this year so it's still under warranty for the next 2.5 years, which I don't want to invalidate - do you think I need to get it fixed?
Thanks!

I should probably also clarify - there was no sugar in the tea, if that will make a difference - I saw on some other posts that after moisture, sugar is the enemy!

Thanks a lot for the info naja15! After I sent that message, I powered down and left it upside down with a towel next to the trackpad. The next day I sealed it inside a plastic bag with some silica gel to absorb any moisture. I left it like that for about 24hrs.
I'm using it now and so far it seems OK - tap to click and all. Some other users have said that problems started after a couple of weeks after the moisture had had time to do serious damage.
I'm hoping that the silica gel did the trick otherwise I don't have enough faith in my clumsy fingers to replace the trackpad myself so I'll pay for it to get repaired (yikes!). Oh and just for a little extra info, a friend of mine said that they can probably tell about water damage by using humidity sensors - strips that permanently change colour in the presence of moisture.
Thanks for your advice, I'm hoping that it stays functional and although I'm going to be super careful with any coffee/ tea/ food near my MBP from now on, I've also ordered the Moshi keyboard skin and palmrest and trackpad cover (although apparently if you use the trackpad cover, you can't tap to click anymore) - just in case! 😉

Apple can tell in several ways: first, drinks like coffee, tea, soda, etc., especially ones with color or sugar leave residue as they dry inside the computer and they're usually easily visible. If they aren't dried quickly, or if they have sugar, you'll find all kinds of corrosion, I've even found mold inside a computer. Also, newer units have liquid contact indicators like cell phones do, they change in color when exposed to liquid. Don't worry, humidity won't set them off (at least not in typical conditions, I'm not saying it's impossible but definitely improbable), but if they're tripped it voids the warranty (there are further conditions to this but not worth explaining unless someone wants to know).

The trouble with spills in newer unibodies is that the battery is integrated, meaning you can't fully remove power. Liquids like coffee, tea, soda, that are largely H2O based, are very conductive. If they connect two traces together that shouldn't be connected, you will/can short various components/boards. Even if the computer is off, there's still what's called 'trickle power' flowing through the system so it can turn on when you hit the power button.

People report problems weeks or months down the road because it often takes time for corrosion to build up (depending on the climate and substance that was spilled) leading to failures after-the-fact. Also, shorts that may occur while there's still standing liquid may not necessarily cause immediate failures. They're the kind that can cause weird, annoying, intermittent problems.

Hi k.panic, thanks for the info, very interesting! Can I ask some advice then please in light of that info, should I carry on using my MBP as normal now whilst it seems to be? I don't think I can send it back to Apple pre-emptively just for a 'check-up' can I? Because obviously I don't want to do further and irreparable damage to it by carrying on using it. But if it is still working fine, I don't know what I can say to AppleCare!
Thanks!

No, you can't mail it out unless there's actually something not working. You could take it into an Apple Retail Store, but they're likely going to say 'just keep using it if it's working'. The primary concern is making sure you don't use it if there is standing liquid or anything.

A retail store could tell you what components may have gotten wet and what it might cost to replace them. Maybe it didn't make it far past the keyboard, they are shielded to an extent, but I don't know how much we're talking.

Hard to say, really, but usually if it doesn't fail immediately, the issues that tend to crop up later are usually smaller, not catastrophic (but can still be pricey to fix).

Thank you so much for the advice! In my case, the tea didn't go near the keyboard, only on the trackpad and I mopped it up, took a bit of time to turn it off though because I panicked and checked some forums first about liquid spills. After turning it off, I packed it for a day with some silica gel in a sealed plastic bag. So far it's been fine so thank you for the advice that later problems won't be catastrophic and I'll keep my hopes up for that not happening!
🙂