I don't need any lectures on what I should/shouldn't have done to prevent it - it happened - I am hoping that sharing my knowledge and experience will help others - although there is no solution, I hope this post helps dispel any rumors.
Had an 8GB iPhone. Got knocked into a sink full of water. Shook it out, put in front of a fan for several hours, left in a container of rice for 2 days. The phone could receive calls, the Home button worked, it would power off and on, but the touch screen became eratic in a few days and then touchscreen didn't work at all. The indicator at the bottom of the headphone jack was red. I called Apple Care - THEY DO NOT REPAIR WATER DAMAGED PHONES ANY MORE FOR ANY PRICE. They said 'Go buy another one.' I took it to an Apple store - same thing.
So I bought a 16GB iPhone and sent the 8GB into a service called 'RapidRepair'(
http://www.rapidrepair.com) I found searching on Google. They charged $10, you ship them the phone, they tell you how much it is to fix or what it is worth salvaged. They contacted me by email until the diagnosis - then they contacted me BY PHONE. They said that the insides were completely corroded and they would give me $25. I told them to send it back.
I got it back and it wouldn't even turn on. I plugged it in to charge - nothing. I decided I would take it apart - I imagined it must look pretty bad inside if it wouldn't even power on now. First thing I noticed when I got it back was that there were pry marks clearly visible on the outside top left corner where the bezel joins the case. Looking closer, it wasn't even completely closed - and I couldn't get it to close. No matter, I was going to take it apart - but that is something to note about their 'repair and diagnostic services'. I opened it with a screw driver - using a lot of force - I'm sure you can do it cleaner, but I figured I didn't have time/energy for eBay, I didn't care about be careful ripping this thing open.
For starters, the 'indicator' on the headphone jack - something I haven't seen mentioned here: It is not accessible from OUTSIDE. This is hard to explain - so let me try and draw a picture for you: imagine a coke can is your headphone jack. Now imagine the bottom of the coke can is clear - you can see through it. Now, imagine you take a white piece of paper and cover half of the bottom. Now imagine you take a white indicator strip and completely cover the bottom. So when you look down, into the can, it looks white. But what you don't know is that the bottom is CLEAR, then there is half a strip of white covering the bottom, then an indicator under that. So if it looks white/red, it didn't get THAT wet inside. If the whole thing looks red/pink, then the indicator soaked through the other white strip which means there was some significant submersion going on. It doesn't matter as I would find out later - red/white, pink/white, red/red - if it is anything but all white - tough luck. So 'sweat dripped down the headphone jack' or 'high humidity' - don't bother. It has to get WET WET WET to reach that indicator.
Now - something else I haven't seen mentioned on here - there is ANOTHER indicator on the inside of the phone. There is a thin metal backing that houses/braces the phone like a plate going almost all the way down the back of the phone above the battery - which is at the bottom. In the middle of this metal plate, stuck on it (so it is between the metal plate and the phone housing) - is ANOTHER small square indicator. So even if you DO try all these crazy ideas to 'paint' your headphone jack bottom white or whatever, as soon as someone at Apple opens it (with the RIGHT tools that don't mar the case, ReadyRepair!) they will see the other indicator, look closer at your fix - and the gig is up. I don't know what they would/could do - just letting you know there is another one inside.
So - now the part that pisses me off. I have this baby cracked open and it is spotless - I mean clean as a whistle. There are several layers of IC boards you need a little screwdriver to unscrew brackets to go from layer to layer - but there is no corrossion - nothing looks out of the ordinary. I pull out my voltage tester - that have needlepoints - and start checking to see if I can pass current through various pieces. I take it out to my workshop and put it under bright light, look at every single board - there is no corrossion. Something is fried - it obviously doesn't work, no doubt about that, but nothing I touch hesitates to pass current. I thought there was too much corrosion for ANY salvage?
Then I see something that REALLY irks me. The black wire going to the battery is broken off its soldering point. I thought maybe when I took it apart I may have done it, but I look closer and there is damage to the black wire in the middle of the wire - the insulation is 'squished'. No way - someone did not... I got a pair of needle-nose pliers and squeezed the wire and looked under my magnifier at the two different marks. Then I got REALLY REALLY mad. Draw your own conclusion to what I saw.
OK. So I am at a party St. Paddy's day, and am sitting in a chair and a staggering guy bumps my girlfriend next to me and she spills just a splash of beer - ok - a decent-sized splash, but not any crazy amount - of her beer on my phone - as I was just texting someone. Yea. Uh-huh. Same CPR routine - the phone works perfectly until it reaches about 75% of battery, then it intermittently powers itself off - you don't realize it until you go to use it. Spent about 2 hours on Apple Care support resetting phone, trying all sorts of things - my indicator is redish/pink - I don't tell them that - and they give me an RMA and send me a box to send them my phone. I get it back 3 days later (today) via FedEx with a nice little note that basically says 'Sorry your phone damage is not covered under our warranty).
So I am back to ANOTHER 8GB today (Apple has made some $$ on me, baby!) - but I have to tell you - if this one gets wet, I am going back to a BlackBerry. Flame-on, I don't care. I'm scared to death of getting this thing anywhere near liquid now - I wipe off every surface I have put it on. My BlackBerry 8700 fell in the toilet and still worked the next day for a year until I went to my 8GB iPhone on launch day last year.
16GB iPhone for sale. It has liquid-damage.
glen
