11" Macbook air with liquid damage, advice needed.

[Staplestable]

I recently spilt some water on my Macbook Air keyboard. Most of the keys stopped responding, and when I opened the virtual keyboard, it's as if the fn key is pressed down all the time. Other than that, everything works as before.

I took it to Apple, and I was told "liquid damage was done to the logic board and keyboard." I was then quoted at $690. Considering that the Macbook still turns on and works well, it seems that the logic board is working. Is it possible only the keyboard is busted?

 

[lukezskywalk]

Damaged Macbook Air

I am at the same boat here. Having spilled coffee on my 13'inch MBA, the keyboard no longer works properly. Now Apple Yorkdale (in Toronto) quoted me 800+ repair and parts after an initial assessment had only the top case as a part replacement.

I've brought the laptop to Apple Yorkdale the same day I've spilled it. Due to the irwork load, they didn't look at it until 5 days later all the while it was stewing in leftover coffee. Now it has corrosive damage and I am responsible to pay for the entire repair.

Even if I buy a new Air (seems to be the more economical way), I would like to recycle the old Air and salvage for parts. Is there a place in Toronto forum members recommend to go and sell the parts?

 

[cbirkett]

I stupidly spilled a really thick smoothie on the right side of my MBA's keyboard a couple months after I got it last year. I removed all the keycaps and cleaned it extremely thoroughly with alcohol, and it isn't visually obvious anything actually happened. The key switches all work fine, but some of the keys feel and sound different, presumably because of residue internally that I can't clean out.

Replacement keyboards can be ordered for around $100, but the replacement process looks like a nightmare. You essentially have to completely disassemble the computer down to individual parts (even removing the heatsink from the CPU) to access the keyboard. I am pretty familiar with computer repair, and I'd be willing to give it a shot, but I'm not sure whether I should try taking it to the Apple Store first and either playing dumb or begging them to help me out. I am almost certain nothing got underneath the internal case of the keyboard, because the drink I spilled was so thick it didn't flow inside.

I am still incredibly mad with myself for spilling the smoothie. I don't eat or drink near my computer, I just absentmindedly put it down beside it on the table and missed a flat surface There are other issues I was hoping to have looked at under warranty, like the left channel on the audio jack not working, and the internal speakers buzzing a lot above minimal volume.