Can you clean Liquid spill before taking to Genius bar?

Question

Level 1

0 points

Can you clean Liquid spill before taking to Genius bar?

I just bought an "as is" 13 inch 2011 MacBook Pro for dirt cheap. It still has some 5 months left of apple care.

Basically I think it is liquid damaged. I plugged in my functional charger from my own MBP (same model), and this is what I noticed:

Doesn't turn on with battery only. Battery doesn't seem to charge.

Plug in the charger, green light comes on, and the computer turns on by itself!

You hear the loud dvd drive noise, the screen goes white, then shuts down 2 seconds later (like a "fade out" shut down, not random flash).

If I leave the charger plugged in after the shut down, the fan starts spinning faster and louder.

So I opened the back cover and there I saw light blue acid corrosion on motherboard, some on the battery connector, some towards the corner of the motherboard. I can tell this is liquid damage. I don't know what kind bc all I can smell is cigarette , and there's some dark disguisting residue that looks like tar. I am assuming it was water or some juice bc the cigarette smell is somewhat sweet. It is weird.

Anyway, I am hoping I can salvage this thing instead of parting it out.

I wanna take it over to the apple store for them to take a look at it and maybe fix since it's still under warranty. I'm assuming they will tell me it's water damaged and charge me a lot of money to fix.

But I was wondering, if I decide to gently clean off the corrosion with alcohol subtance off the motherboard, remove the board and clean the other side (assuming it is damaged as well), and clean the keyboard, to make it look "like nothing happened", will this void the remaing 5 months of apple care I have?

Thank you!

MacBook Pro

Posted on Feb 14, 2014 3:11 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Feb 14, 2014 3:22 PM in response to ks09

no, dont attempt to clean it, it wont accomplish a single thing at all.

spills are not warranty covered, not by ANY mfg.

to make it look "like nothing happened", will this void the remaing 5 months of apple care I have?

So, youre asking if you can cheat the Apple store? I see.................hmmm.

A: bad idea, obviously for ethical and other reasons....

B: Wont work

C: you cant clean a spill trip sensor, of which there are many inside the macbook, proving you spilled something in it.

Liquid spills, why your MacBook chassis is a one-way valve for spills

After a substantial spill many people will turn their notebook upside down and shake it, not only does this not work, but it spreads liquid havoc throughout your machine and makes things often as bad as possible.

The keyboard itself acts like a one way valve in the case of a substantial liquid spill. While liquid pours into the bottom chassis easy, it does not come out easily at all, and in the case of any spill, most of it will not come out by turning it upside down. Disconnect all power and contact Apple for diagnostics and repair.

Do not attempt to, after a spill, ‘dry out your MacBook’ and test it

After a spill most people invariably try to “dry out” their notebook by various methods, including hair dryers and otherwise. This both does not work, and after a substantial spill of any magnitude, even if the liquid was water, residue is left behind.

There are additionally many very tight places inside your notebook where liquids will linger for a very long time, and cause corrosion or worse.

Immediately unplug your notebook and contact Apple for in shop diagnostics and parts replacement.

In the case of very minor spills people will “dry out” their notebook and feel success that their notebook is working ok, however invariably in nearly all instances after 4-14 days an error / fault pops up and is usually followed by more.

In case of a spill, damage estimates are impossible,.....anything can be fixed, without question.......the question is cost.

contact Apple for in shop diagnostics and cost estimation ....possible parts replacement. 😊

Reply