iPhone 4 leaking brown gooey substance when charging

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iPhone 4 leaking brown gooey substance when charging

Every time I charge my iPhone 4 with the Apple iPhone Charger (5 W) I get this gooey substance inside the dock connector of the device itself and on the charger. This started almost a week ago. The substance does not smell of rust or anything.

The device itself is half a year old, never had contact with water, never ran too hot and was never dropped. It does run quite hot under heavy load and while being charged, however judging from many many forum posts that's a regular thing for the iPhone 4/4S.

It behaves normally, charges normally and holds its charge just like you would expect from a regular iPhone 4.

I don't think this is battery related as it only appears to happen when I'm charging the device (why would the battery only leak when being charged?). However, except for the polymer gel inside the battery, there's nothing else inside the device that could possibly leak.

This really has me worried, not only because the device might fail any second, but also because the leaking substance might be hazardous.

iPhone 4, iOS 5.1

Posted on Apr 13, 2012 3:16 PM

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Answer 1

Apr 13, 2012 3:21 PM in response to benfranke

take it to your apple store,explain the situation,it seems you still have 6 months warranty left,so should get a replacement.

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Answer 2

benfranke Author

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Apr 13, 2012 3:31 PM in response to sicknote00

I will do that, Monday was the earliest Genius Bar appointment I could get though.

If somebody could confirm that this gooey stuff is potentially hazardous I'll show up without an appointment tomorrow.

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Answer 3

Jan 27, 2013 8:37 PM in response to benfranke

@benfranke....how did you resolve this issue?? Mine did the same thing and the Apple Store had no clue what it was...

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Answer 4

benfranke Author

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Jan 27, 2013 10:51 PM in response to mikem1980

I took the thing to the Genius Bar and received a replacement phone and charger.

The guy at the genius bar didn't have a clue what that stuff was, he said the phone looks kinda 'burnt' on the inside.

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Answer 5

Jan 27, 2013 11:20 PM in response to benfranke

Could you tell me what store by chance, I got mine iPhone in December and my phone stopped working a couple days ago and when I took it into the Apple Store in San Diego they opened it up and it had the same brown gooey materiel you referenced in your post. They told me that they could not replace my phone since it had that substance...they said they've never heard of it and that I must have done something to puncture the battery.

Any help would be appreciated.

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Answer 6

benfranke Author

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Jan 28, 2013 12:23 AM in response to mikem1980

The store was the Apple Store on Rosenstrasse, Munich, Germany.

If the device has never been opened and tampered with, I don't see what you could have done to puncture the battery, especially since they use Li-Polymer batteries that are not that prone to leakage even if damaged.

If they still refuse to replace the device and there's no other store nearby you could get a replacement battery from ifixit for $25 and replace it yourself. It's one of the easier repairs, provided that you have the appropriate screwdrivers.

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