Is there a protocol for replacing a magsafe dc-in board?

Because if it involves removing the little plastic coating that comes on new electronics then the person who installed mine did not follow it. I'd been having a lot of issues connecting to my charger and it looked like the magnets in my "magsafe" were corroding. My battery life turned to utter garbage and in less than a year it registered over 1500 cycles and needed to be replaced, at my expense..

Today I took another look at it, I was at my witts end. I grabbed some non-magnetic tweesers and attempted to move some of the "corrosion" off of the connector. My laptop was dead and, having ordered replacement dc-in, had nothing to lose. Well! It turns out that there was no corrosion.. it turns out it was dirt building up UNDER the little plastic peice that was left over from a repair job over a year ago.

I don't know if this has contributed to the 1500 charge cycle that forced me out of warranty, but I do know that i'm down 50$ for a new magsafe, another 60 or so for the new charger I bought, and at least a year of frustration.

So if you're having issues charging or keeping your magsafe in, be sure to check that the plastic cover is off...