Macbook: spilled water screen bad. Swap for similar?

[Christopher11]

I spilled water on my Macbook and now it's splotchy, bright in some places, dark in others. It's an early 2008 model white Macbook. I have an older one that's not in use. It's a white Macbook also, same size. RM5510L8U9B is the serial number. Can i swap out the screens? Will they be compatible?

Can you link me to an article on how to do this? Thanks so much.


p.s. my only other concern, is it possible that i've somehow damaged the display part of the CPU or board... so that replacing the screen won't resolve this? Or is it likely the screen. Water went on the keyboard and screen. It has a splotchy, blobby appearance, some dark some bright.

 

[GoCubsGo]

If it is the same MacBook then yes. ifixit.com will give you a guide.

 

[eman]

Hook you macbook up to an external screen and see if the picture looks good. If the external screen looks good, then the problem is with the LCD. Once you have it apart, clean the logic board up and try to get rid of the water residue. Water is not as bad as a sugared drink, still not great.
Yes, the screen is compatible, if they're both white or black macbooks.

 

[Christopher11]

Thank you Jessica. and eman. I did some serious drying with my woodstove and a space heater, and my Macbook is almost 100% better. It went from giant cloudy blotches of extremely bright (some kind of reaction of H2O with the LED?) to various patterns, and now just a few little dots.

Does this suggest the water was probably in the actual display somewhere? Or could it have been somewhere in the components and affected the screen?

Thanks again.

 

[eman]

White blotchy spots in the LCD is very typical for a liquid spill to the LCD. Water has seeped into the LCD and with time, may dry up and disappear completely.

 

[Christopher11]

Thank you. There's a tiny crack at the top of the laptop, top right, on the front edge of the plastic. Not the screen itself, the white plastic border.

But the blotches were all over. Can the water actually seep into the screen itself? It's porous? Thank you again.