intermittently failing Keys on MBP 2011

[MrAverigeUser]

I experience for the second time now a problem with the keyboard of my MBP 15" 2011 (8,2).
First time was in 2013.

exactly 3 days after expiring of warranty, these keys failed - first intermittently, than soon after completely.
Did cost me a lot of money at that time to get it repaired (it was one of the official apple service partner - told me they replaced it).

Now, again nearly exactly 2 years later, this problem begins again with exactly the same symptoms.
I took off the keys hoping cleaning could help. But the space under the keys was nearly perfectly clean.
After the "Cleaning" action, the keys worked again (the MBP was cooled down during that time).


For 20 minutes I was happy - but the more I was using the MBP again in the hour after all this , the more the keys failed again.
Now I have a thesis:
every time the MBP gets really warm/hot, the soldering or material itself of the keyboard risks to get less efficient (same problem as he dGPU-Problem with theses models ?) and the keys just above the CPU begin to fail (at least intermittently).

The line from key T to O is EXACTLY on top of the CPU (at least, the hottest part of the downside is exactly underneath these keys), and I think this might be the problem.
In my case, this is already beginning BEFORE the MBP even starts active cooling and without power-using.

Are there other users with similar problems?

After a short search I found this similar posting which might confirm a little bit my thesis:

Hey all, I have a mid-2010 15 inch MBP running Mavericks and for the past few weeks, certain keys have only been working intermittently.

It started with just the I key and now affects the T Y U I and O keys, where they won't respond for anywhere from 1 to 30 seconds. Restarting the computer or running more / less software doesn't seem to affect the problem. I've tried resetting the PRAM several times and pulled up the affected keys to clean underneath them. No liquids have been spilled on the keyboard.

I've googled around for this problem and haven't found anything similar, everything seems to be about keys that just stop functioning entirely. Unfortunately I live in a country that only has a few authorized technicians and getting replacement parts, even ordering them, is impossible.

Thanks for your help.

The fact that there are people who make their money with nothing but keyboard-repairs on MBP seems to indicate that there is a market - and therefore perhaps an issue…

I use Nootebooks since 1994 (IBM, Toshiba, Panasonic) and NEVER EVER had any problems with the keyboard - this began with the MBP…. even for the second time now..

 

[MrAverigeUser]

well - some days ago the keys in the mid of the QUERTY-Line are now definitely dead.

As I wrote already this is the most warm part of the keyboard … is this an issue ?

Before purchasing mMacBookPros I had some IBM Thinkpads, Toshiba Pro Notebooks and a PAnasonic Toughbook.
NEITHER of them ever failed since the mid-90´s. My MBP´s are the first to fail - and they did it even twice!

So - after burning a lot of money 3 days (!) after warranty in 2013 for my MBP early 2011 (400 EUR) for a new keyboard (apple refused any help - they were just the opposite of the world-class TOP-Customer-service of IBM or Toshiba before and after 2000) I had AGAIN the same issues with the same MBP now. Did cost me an extra 200 EUR.
So - I spent 600 EUR in just 4,5 years. A very bad and very expensive experience.

Who has made the same experience with dead keys and needed a new keyboard?