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I spilled shoarma juice over my MBPR

N

Nexigen

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 22, 2015
3
0
Hello Guys,

I decided to make a topic here after reading a few other 'i spilled x liquid over y macbook'. I'm also one of these idiots that managed to spill something.
In my case, it is shoarma juice. The fat that comes free once you start baking shoarma. When I finished baking it I put it on my plate and went on watching a movie with both the plate and my macbook on my lap. Now the juice that was still on the bottom of the plate, leaked right on my trackpad and also covered a smidgin of the spacebar.

What did I do :

Once I noticed the spill, I immediately progressed sucking the juice out of my laptop, with my mouth. It probably looked freaking hilarious. It did work as I noticed a considerable amount of juice. After that I used foto paper and pushed that through the spacebar and the trackpad to catch humidity and left it like that for around 9 hours.

After effects :

My trackpad is going all nuts, uncontrollably opening and closing stuff and does not react to my gestures and finger movements the way it should.
It's already around 9 hours ago since I spilled it over my trackpad. The laptop has been turned off ever since up to the moment I started to write this. Right now I disabled my trackpad and i'm using a steelseries sensei mouse to navigate. As for the space bar, it's working fine. It does sound a little different when pressing it though.

question :

Do you guys reckon the trackpad will get better after more time progresses? Or do you think I should go take a visit at a Genius bar in order to have the trackpad replaced? How much will that cost me by the way?

Thanks in advance,
Nexigen.
 
poiihy

poiihy

macrumors 68020
Aug 22, 2014
2,301
62
Trackpad probably just has the fatty stuff built up around it which senses just like fingers so all it needs is a thorough cleaning.
 
N

Nexigen

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 22, 2015
3
0
poiihy said:
Trackpad probably just has the fatty stuff built up around it which senses just like fingers so all it needs is a thorough cleaning.
Click to expand...

Yeah I've been thinking that too. But that would still mean the unibody has to be detatched from the laptop itself, meaning I would have to bring it to an Apple store nevertheless :(. Cause I really have no idea how to even get the screws off.
 
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,478
43,405
You need to give the laptop time to dry, it appears you didn't wait that long, or long enough rather to make sure all the liquid that you didn't get out has evaporated.

I think since its juice, you need to clean the insides, due to the sugars and possible acids (I'm not familiar with shoarma juice)
 
W

windywalks

macrumors 6502a
Mar 12, 2004
585
544
Nexigen said:
Hello Guys,



Do you guys reckon the trackpad will get better after more time progresses? Or do you think I should go take a visit at a Genius bar in order to have the trackpad replaced? How much will that cost me by the way?
Click to expand...

My friend's MacBook Pro suffered a similar fate although the trackpad had been served a few drops of spaghetti sauce.
It started behaving erratically, opening apps by the dozen, resizing windows and whatnot.
Letting it dry didn't really solve anything. He had the computer insured but was abroad and couldn't claim the insurance to fix it.
I came over with a visit, opened the thing up, took the trackpad out and thoroughly cleaned it with Isopropanol. It now works fine. Weirdest part was, that there weren't many traces of sauce in there either so a tiny, barely visible bit on the edge caused all the fuss.

I have to stress that this was a unibody 13" MBP, so one that is relatively easy to open and service.
The rMBPs have the battery attached to the top case (keyboard, trackpad etc.), so it's really hard to only get the trackpad fixed, almost impossible since you risk tearing the battery.
What this means basically, is that you'll probably end up forking out for a full top case replacement, which is quite a costly deal.

Try using some pure alcohol to clean it and then maybe use a q-tip doused in alcohol to clean around the edges. If that doesn't work you either have to exchange the parts or disable the trackpad altogether and use an external mouse/trackpad - that's what my friend did until I came over and cleaned it up for him.
 
N

Nexigen

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 22, 2015
3
0
windywalks said:
My friend's MacBook Pro suffered a similar fate although the trackpad had been served a few drops of spaghetti sauce.
It started behaving erratically, opening apps by the dozen, resizing windows and whatnot.
Letting it dry didn't really solve anything. He had the computer insured but was abroad and couldn't claim the insurance to fix it.
I came over with a visit, opened the thing up, took the trackpad out and thoroughly cleaned it with Isopropanol. It now works fine. Weirdest part was, that there weren't many traces of sauce in there either so a tiny, barely visible bit on the edge caused all the fuss.

I have to stress that this was a unibody 13" MBP, so one that is relatively easy to open and service.
The rMBPs have the battery attached to the top case (keyboard, trackpad etc.), so it's really hard to only get the trackpad fixed, almost impossible since you risk tearing the battery.
What this means basically, is that you'll probably end up forking out for a full top case replacement, which is quite a costly deal.

Try using some pure alcohol to clean it and then maybe use a q-tip doused in alcohol to clean around the edges. If that doesn't work you either have to exchange the parts or disable the trackpad altogether and use an external mouse/trackpad - that's what my friend did until I came over and cleaned it up for him.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply though it deeply saddens me.
Why does apple keep making it so ridiculously hard to fix things. So basically I need to replace the full top of my laptop, which means.. keyboard, touchpad and battery? How much is that going to cost me?
I really hope a few more days will do wonders, but I might be as unlucky as your friend.
 
W

windywalks

macrumors 6502a
Mar 12, 2004
585
544
Depends on where you live - it's around 400 euros, probably $500 in the US.
 
Last edited:
S

StockDC2

macrumors regular
May 16, 2011
212
12
Nexigen said:
Thank you for your reply though it deeply saddens me.
Why does apple keep making it so ridiculously hard to fix things. So basically I need to replace the full top of my laptop, which means.. keyboard, touchpad and battery? How much is that going to cost me?
I really hope a few more days will do wonders, but I might be as unlucky as your friend.
Click to expand...

I don't think you have to replace everything if it is indeed just the touchpad. I just did a quick search on eBay and there are a few for $35. As for the spacebar, just remove the key and get a damp cloth (i.e barely wet and I do mean barely) and wipe around the area. It wouldn't hurt to wipe under the spacebar key itself as well. Good luck!
 
W

windywalks

macrumors 6502a
Mar 12, 2004
585
544
StockDC2 said:
I don't think you have to replace everything if it is indeed just the touchpad. I just did a quick search on eBay and there are a few for $35. As for the spacebar, just remove the key and get a damp cloth (i.e barely wet and I do mean barely) and wipe around the area. It wouldn't hurt to wipe under the spacebar key itself as well. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Check iFixit and see how they took the rMBP apart.
Good luck prying away the battery with all the glue without damaging it - it's an impossible feat.
Beyond that the spacebar might start acting up in time (hope it doesn't) and the keyboard is impossible to exchange with a working unit.
I have some really talented computer repair guys at my disposal - not a single one would take responsibility for this.

Besides it's probably a fairly new computer so the OP would loose any warranty coverage he has left (it'll stay covered if he fixes it at Apple) and there are a lot more costly problems that might occur in the pipeline i.e. logic board, display etc.
 
maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,478
43,405
Nexigen said:
Thank you for your reply though it deeply saddens me.
Why does apple keep making it so ridiculously hard to fix things. So basically I need to replace the full top of my laptop, which means.. keyboard, touchpad and battery? How much is that going to cost me?
I really hope a few more days will do wonders, but I might be as unlucky as your friend.
Click to expand...

Almost any laptop that has juice spilled on it, will be hard to service/repair, but I agree apple with gluing the battery on, using non-standard screws,etc seemed to go out of their way to prevent anyone but themselves from opening it up
 
T

theitsage

Suspended
Aug 28, 2005
795
862
I have successfully removed glued batteries from rMBPs. Also deal with a very similar situation the OP is having (but with milk). The trackpad would wake the laptop up from sleep due to a short somewhere.

What I did was removing the bottom cover with a 1.4 pentalobe (star-shape) screw driver. Then pour 99.9% rubbing alcohol in the same path that the initial liquid spill occurred.

I used a fine tip plastic toothpick and ran it alongside the edges of the trackpad first. This ensured there's enough opening for rubbing alcohol to penetrate the underside. I placed a clean cloth under the battery to absorb the drainage. It was cloudy looking due to milk residue. I recall the trackpad and keyboard ribbon cables were accessible with battery intact, so I cleaned those as well.

I can't say it'll work for you but might be worth a shot.
 
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