Spilt Coke on MBA 11". Potential harm?

EricHunter said:

I accidentally spilt some coke on the left side of the keyboard 2 months ago. I quickly turned it upside down and tried my best to clean the coke externally. It works perfectly well after that until now, no sign of liquid damage except for some sticky keys. Does it mean that the coke didn't get into the logic board under the keyboard? Is there any possibility that my MBA just dies up one day without any signs? I'm praying hard now

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When one of my co-workers spilled Mountain Dew on my MacBook Pro non-retina I certainly was not thrilled. I quickly turned the computer sideways and let what liquid drain out. I few days later I took it to an authorized dealer knowing I had AppleCare and made up an excuse of it randomly shutting down. Wasn't going to tell them what actually happened.

I thought who ever looked at it would see the sugar-re residue and be out big bucks cause sugar I think would eat electric parts. But all that was replaced was the speaker wire connectors.

Just speaker wires, no logic board replacement thank goodness. I've moved on to a mid 2014 retina now and more careful not to have liquids around the computer.

Good luck.

I've spilt coffee on the right side of my 11" MBA (thankfully moshi keyboard protected the keyboard but some liquid still flowed into the right side). MBA quickly turned itself off and I let it dry itself for a day or two. Never had to open it up, this was 1 year 3 months ago. Return and \ keys are sticky sometimes but MBA still works. I meant to open it to clean the keys, but still haven't.

Good luck, hope you are this lucky.

unibility said:

When one of my co-workers spilled Mountain Dew on my MacBook Pro non-retina I certainly was not thrilled. I quickly turned the computer sideways and let what liquid drain out. I few days later I took it to an authorized dealer knowing I had AppleCare and made up an excuse of it randomly shutting down. Wasn't going to tell them what actually happened.
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It's very easy to tell if almost any liquid has spilled inside a computer. No doubt whoever worked on your computer noticed the spill, but presumably he was in a good mood and wanted to help you out.

EricHunter said:

I accidentally spilt some coke on the left side of the keyboard 2 months ago. I quickly turned it upside down and tried my best to clean the coke externally. It works perfectly well after that until now, no sign of liquid damage except for some sticky keys. Does it mean that the coke didn't get into the logic board under the keyboard? Is there any possibility that my MBA just dies up one day without any signs? I'm praying hard now

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Yes, it is possible that it will die one day.

If liquid went inside the laptop and onto the logic board (or IO board, SSD, etc...), what is left of the Coke could be slowly corroding the components on it.

You can take the laptop apart and look to see where the liquid went. After you take out the logic board, it should be easy to identify where the Coke went and if any components need to be cleaned. You can clean them with a soft toothbrush and 99% isopropyl alcohol.

You can Google for macbook logic board corrosion to learn more.

If you feel comfortable opening your laptop, I think it is best to inspect for damage and clean the components.

If you do not feel comfortable, you could break something and/or lose your warranty even if there is no damage, so it may not be worth it until it stops working. At that point, you may need to replace the part instead, as cleaning may not help anymore.