Not Pretty - Photos of Terminal Damage Caused By Taking iPhone 4 Swimmming

I recently purchased an iPhone 4 with water damage in the hope to fix it, but sadly due to the water being that of a swimming pool, and the detergents that are in the water, this tied with the iphone 4 not being rinsed with clean water right away etc, the corrosion started, and its not pretty.

After the iPhone 4 went for a swim, it was then left completely assembled, and dried out, however as mentioned, the corrosion had already taken hold.

Here's the photos of the damage.





Once I had removed the Logic Board, i rinsed it in warm clean water for 10 minutes, and left to dry, then once dried out fully, I soaked the pcb for 3 hours in Isopropanol in a sealed container to losen up the corrosion so I could see the extent of the damage. This is what it looked like after the soak..



I then continued to clean up the area, and sockets seeing as the corrosion hadn't actually eroded the thin copper connectors away, so I thought I may actually try and get this thing back to life.

I brushed gently, and treated the corroded area, removing all corrosion, and now, this is the state of the Logic Board below. Im just waiting on a new replacement battery to arrive, and then I will reassemble the iPhone 4, however, instead of me using the carcass from the original soaked iPhone 4, I have assembled another iphone 4 with new, and second hand parts which I purchased separately.

New parts, White front glass with Retina lcd, home button switch/flexi, white back glass, new 5mp camera, white headphone jack, with volume buttons, and vibrate switch, and white dock connector. Proximity sensor, wifi board, power button, and new speaker/antenna also all replaced with new.

Second hand parts for new build were just the iPhone 4 frame itself.

Here's the logic board now as it stands, waiting for new batter to arrive so I can finish my rebuild.



If after everything I have done, and it still don't work, its no biggy for me, I have enjoyed the experience of working on this. What shall I do with the rebuild white iphone 4 should it not work when rebuilt? I will sell it on eBay no doubt, and be honest in my description on what exactly I have done.

I just thought some of you guys may of been interested in seeing these photos, hence me posting them here.

Dhelsdon said:

I have a iPod Touch 4G which had a cracked screen, so I bought a new lcd and digitizer off eBay to repair it. During the process I unknowingly tore the belt with soldered connections from the volume control buttons, and ended up giving up - admitting painful defeat. Disconnected the battery and I put it all back together and I am thinking about trying to get a replacement from apple store without a receipt, saying it died and never charged up or responded to pc connection.

If that doesn't work, I'll give it to you seeing as you could probably salvage something from it.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I really would appreciate that my friend. Just drop me a PM anytime, and I will be happy to cover postage.

Well, I have tried everything, and sadly the logic board is completely fried. I'm now trying to source another logic board. I have found a seller on ebay that has them, but I maybe better off buying another iPhone 4, a damaged one which would work out the same price.