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I spilled orange juice over my MacBook

A

AnrBjotk

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 4, 2010
132
3
Help...
While eating breakfast I spilled 1/4 of a glass of orange juice over the top left half of the macbook keyboard... Because I got so frightened I couldn't actually tell where the juice ran, but certainly on the keyboard and possibly higher up, towards the little "grill" (where the screen and keyboard meets... where I know there is already dusts, crumbs, etc)
I am *********?
Nothing happened. No noise, no smoke, no bang. All keys are working, though sticky, and computer running fine... for now.

So, if it's dangerous, I mean exploding, losing all data, etc, would there be a sign? Or is my macbook now a ticking bomb?
Or, is it fine for now, but needs repair so that any possible juice doesn't corrode/rust the internal organs?
Or is it fine-fine?

I used a hairdryer "gently" towards the grill... Will that help any?

(I'm really worried... The machine is two years old, does that mean the warranty is off? Also, I'm a smoker, does that mean they wont fix it? I once tried to get a new power cable, but when they saw that there was a bump on the side of the mac, from a fall, they told me to get stuffed... How much will such a repair job/check cost me if not covered by anything? It's New Years Eve today, meaning macshops are closed today and tomorrow... Drop by one on wednesday? If it hasn't exploded by then...)

Sorry, I know there are a million threads like this... I'm having a bit of a crisis and freaking out...
 
Tulani said:
First call is to make sure you have backup of all your data
Click to expand...

Yeah... that's tricky since I'm not at home and have no external harddrive here. I made some backups of my writings and website on a USB-stick...

----------

Now that I'm cooling down, it might seem logical that the juice was stopped from hitting the fan/grill by the small indentation where the keys are...
But that might be magical thinking...
Should I restart to check the system? (I don't know what I'm talking about, btw)
 
Well, the fact that it HAS run long enough to do some amount of 'back up' is promising.. However, I think it is unwise to continue running it without some dis-assembly and CLEANING, as Orange Juice is at best a Lot of Water and Sugar and Acid.. Period.. :eek:

** If your computer has a Removable Battery, I think it would be wise to Remove it NOW, if you haven't already **

That being said, I will guess you should take it somewhere 'capable' ASAP and have them assess and clean it.. Water is oddly the best way you could remove all the Orange Juice, and of course there are many areas of the Computer that DO NOT want water near them, and areas are 'policed internally' with Liquid Sensors (devices to show if spills have occurred) ~ ~ Obviously, cleaning THESE areas with Water would be Unwise, if not outright Impossible.. Conundrum indeed!! :(

Without seeing it firsthand I cannot even possibly help much more, but The Juice WILL Dry and leave an awful mess, that is certain, so the sooner your computer is safely looked at, cleaned and/or repaired, the more likely it will have an extended life.. Hopefully quite long and happy.. Good Luck!!
 
OldRhodie said:
Should've been drinking vodka;)
Click to expand...


High-larious. Seriously, though, if it hadn't been for my prescribed opiates I would have passed out..
But,
the enter key is severely sticky. I removed it, tried to clean, but still no better...
What can I do? When I pop the keys off, the little scissors stay put on the mac... Should I pop off the scissors as well, or...?
 
Curious...why do so many people come here saying they spilled something on their macbook? Like an astounding amount of people. Is it that hard to take care of a (for me $3800) product?
 
lightz39 said:
Curious...why do so many people come here saying they spilled something on their macbook? Like an astounding amount of people. Is it that hard to take care of a (for me $3800) product?
Click to expand...

I'd wager that it's because there isn't much of a reason to come here saying, "I didn't just spill something on my MacBook!"

It might help to think that for every person who's posted about spilling something on their product, there are thousands of others that haven't.

In my experience, this pretty much applies to just about everything. When all's going well, people are happy and go about their business relatively quietly. When something goes the opposite of well, they speak up.
 
The problems can come later.
Maybe after you forget or some time soon.
My girlfriend spilt water on her MacBook and it showed nothing wrong till 3 weeks later.
Keyboard didnt respond, trackpad was dead, etc.

I woudnt turn it on for a while. In fact, let it dry.
 
Water damage problems can def crop up later. If nothing has happened and it still works, I would tear it apart and go at all the components with some swabs and rubbing alcohol.

I did this with an old roommate's iPhone. He normally puts his iPhone in the cup holder in his car, but this time there was a cup full up with water. He still proceeded to put the iPhone in there while on the charger on an hour drive home from work. Once home he noticed this and he thought it was surely dead, but weeks later I told him I'll try and bring it back to life. I tore it down and went to town with rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs on it. Unfortunately, the extended time period, where water was lodged in the phone, caused the sim connectors to corrode and eventually rip off when removing a sim card. Also, the face sensor and camera crapped out, but a replacement was only ~$5 and ~$10, respectively. Other than that, everything else worked fine afterwards.

So I would recommend tearing it down and cleaning everything up as soon as possible to prevent corrosion. Also, do not connect it to any power source if you are not absolutely sure everything is dried out.
 
agreed the first thing I told myself before getting the Mac absolutely no drinks in the same room what so ever. I had never had any kind of liquid damage and never will
lightz39 said:
Curious...why do so many people come here saying they spilled something on their macbook? Like an astounding amount of people. Is it that hard to take care of a (for me $3800) product?
Click to expand...
 
To answer your coverage questions...

Even if you have AppleCare or another extended warranty, you are more than likely not covered. Spills are considered Accidental Damage and are not covered by any manufacturers warranty and by only a handful of extended warranty services.

The 3 major issues you will eventually run into are Keyboard/Trackpad failure, main board failure, and depending on how much was spilled you could possibly short out your entire electronic system (RAM, Processor, etc.). This will cost you more than a new laptop, or at least as much.

Your best option is to either take it to be professionally cleaned, or if you are confident enough, take it apart yourself and clean it. Get a can of compressed air, do not EVER use a blow dryer on ANY electronic component. Blow dryers can easily cause static electricity to build up and you will short out your main board and fry it forever. Clean it with a clean rag or Q-tips with alcohol.

Water can work as well, but if you use water make sure to have a static band or something to ground yourself, and work on a static-free environment (rubber mat is best). If you use water, dry it off with compressed air and wait at least 48 hours in a dry environment before putting everything back together.

I cannot stress this enough, laptops (especially MacBooks) are a massive pain to take apart, so if you have no experience in doing this, DO NOT DO IT. Pay a professional.
 
Ricanlegend said:
agreed the first thing I told myself before getting the Mac absolutely no drinks in the same room what so ever. I had never had any kind of liquid damage and never will
Click to expand...

I still eat and drink in proximity to my MBA, but I keep them a good distance away and I never touch my MBA until I'm done eating+drinking. I guess some people either lack common sense or don't have respect for their things.
 
Just to add to previous comments:

If you're using water to clean your electrical components, try to use distilled water if you can. However, given that wherever you find distilled water, you can usually find alcohol not far off, alcohol is always the preferred solution to use.
 
"What's your specialist subject? The bleeding obvious?"

I know, I made a mistake. Which I sincerely regret.

But, looking it over, I'm more and more sure the juice only fell on the keyboard and did not travel over the "groove" and into the grill/fan.
So, the problem is: What to do with juice that has fallen over the keyboards and under the keys? (Surely, orange juice + plastic is better than orange juice + electronics/l-board?)
Right now it's sticky.
I've cleaned it as much as I can. I've used q-tips, tweezers, I've blown, I've rubbed, I've tried to remove every piece of yellow dried up juice and every tiiiny piece of orange "meat" etc. But the Enter key is still sticky (the eject key I've cleaned and is no longer sticky)
What else can I do?

I remove the Enter-Key but the "scissors" stay put on the mac... Can I take them off carefully without damaging them? How? If I can, I think that would help a lot as they still have some yellow spots...

Just trying to do what I can...

What would a cleaning cost? 1000$? 3000$? Will they do it? Or will they just tell me to get lost? (Also, I'm a smoker... Have some apple stores carried through the no-repair on macbooks with nicotine?) What should I say?
I'm broke, you see, and cannot afford a 5000$ clean...
(I know, I know, if I'm broke I shouldnt have drunk juice in front of my mac... I know... get off your high horse, please, I made a mistake, it has never happened before... )

Please, please, please help. Assume it's just the keys, how can I clean them myself?

Peace, love
and the strong hope I won't have to go PC...
AB
 
If its literally "under" the keys, meaning its near the logic, you pretty much cant clean it.

You can under the keys. But if it gets near anywhere under, you will have to take off the whole assembly.

Heres a guid to removing the logic in a 2011 15in Mac. (I dont know which one you have)

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Install...body+Late+2011+Logic+Board+Replacement/7518/1

Getting under the keyboard is easy from here.
Since your warranty is already voided, try giving it a shot.
Dont forget, this can increase the risk of damaging your Mac more if you do it wrong.
 
Regarding the smoking, most AASPs and Apple Stores I have dealt with (including those I've worked for), will decline to work on a smokers machine with heavy nicotine buildup inside (health and safety).

Regarding the spill, it's rarely just the keyboard, however, the only complete fix of the keyboard is a compete top case replacement, this is usually in the range of $125+labour+tax, that and a complete clean of the internal components, and you are still running a crap shoot... Machine could last 2 days, weeks, months, years... Once it has liquid damage, there's no guarantees, corrosion is a bitch!
 
G-Mo said:
Regarding the smoking, most AASPs and Apple Stores I have dealt with (including those I've worked for), will decline to work on a smokers machine with heavy nicotine buildup inside (health and safety).

Regarding the spill, it's rarely just the keyboard, however, the only complete fix of the keyboard is a compete top case replacement, this is usually in the range of $125+labour+tax, that and a complete clean of the internal components, and you are still running a crap shoot... Machine could last 2 days, weeks, months, years... Once it has liquid damage, there's no guarantees, corrosion is a bitch!
Click to expand...

I agree, liquids best friend would be corrosion.
My girlfriend spilt ice tea on her MacBook.
It was fine for about 3 weeks and what do ya know!
Corrosion all around the trackpad, keyboard, just every where.

Brown rust around the body making Mac malfunction.
Keyboard wont respond, trackpad is dead, holy crap and many more.

He can spend 50~3000 dollars on cleaning that machine.
But after water damage, he probably will see some effects.
He could of been lucky where it missed all the components, or extremely unlucky.
Either way I suggest buying a new Mac but since thats not in your option, you can pray or get it fixed.
 
yusukeaoki said:
I agree, liquids best friend would be corrosion.
My girlfriend spilt ice tea on her MacBook.
It was fine for about 3 weeks and what do ya know!
Corrosion all around the trackpad, keyboard, just every where.

Brown rust around the body making Mac malfunction.
Keyboard wont respond, trackpad is dead, holy crap and many more.

He can spend 50~3000 dollars on cleaning that machine.
But after water damage, he probably will see some effects.
He could of been lucky where it missed all the components, or extremely unlucky.
Either way I suggest buying a new Mac but since thats not in your option, you can pray or get it fixed.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by getting it fixed then? I mean, if they refuse to clean machines with nictotine, there's little that can be done.
And to be honest, I imagine they'll just laugh at me and brush me off like some Victorian orphan (me in my ragged clothing and dirty hair in that all-white and anal Mac-store... I love macs, but hate Mac stores, it's one of the few places that still uphold some class difference... Snooty snobs)

But guess I'll have to pop by, though I'm postponing the humiliation. Also need to scrub myself down, have a shave and find my suit before entering. Unless their doors have some anti-riffraff/peasant detector.
 
AnrBjotk said:
What do you mean by getting it fixed then? I mean, if they refuse to clean machines with nictotine, there's little that can be done.
And to be honest, I imagine they'll just laugh at me and brush me off like some Victorian orphan (me in my ragged clothing and dirty hair in that all-white and anal Mac-store... I love macs, but hate Mac stores, it's one of the few places that still uphold some class difference... Snooty snobs)

But guess I'll have to pop by, though I'm postponing the humiliation. Also need to scrub myself down, have a shave and find my suit before entering. Unless their doors have some anti-riffraff/peasant detector.
Click to expand...

You can look for other computer stores.
Some places do know how to handle Macs.
Although I personally ddont trust those kind of stores, those are your options if you dont want to be ripped off/refused.
I would still ask apple and see.
 
Arnezie said:
Why did you have to go there ? Your the one who spilled the orange juice and your acting like a immature child.
Click to expand...

Hehe. I think we're all agreed it's my fault. I'm not acting spoiled, simply lamenting my situation as it is. I.e. having to pay double for my sins, the damage is has done/will do, and the added humiliation of getting/not getting help from the Apple-employees.
I didn't mean to insult anyone.
 
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