Answer: Great question! What do you want first? The good news or the bad? Lol
Oh! Sorry, this comes with a bit of a long answer 🙂
Just FYI. under the top case and under the keys is a very thin plastic layer that is a black color, has the back-light for the keys wired inside of it, and it is installed with adhesive in between the keys underneath the keyboard and above the logic board. It gives the keys that beautiful Apple glow. 🙂 It does that, but it also acts sort of like a gasket does in an engine to help seal out dust and sometimes keep out liquids where different things join together or move. The thing is that it’s not always able to do that for a computer and I’m sad to say that it doesn’t always keep all things out. Look at the link below that shows the keyboard assembly and you can see the thin keyboard backlight layer in the 3rd picture.
When we see a liquid damage repair in the shop, it’s usually bad news. Parts can be swapped out usually but the info isn’t always accessible. Even if you can find a data recovery specialist in your area you may have to pay a pretty penny for a chance to recover it and theres no guarantee that they get your info out or that the info will be what you’re looking for at all.
The good news is that if you’re lucky, blessed or just in the right universe, sometimes the liquid that did make it inside can get trapped in a not so sensitive area of the laptop and maybe, (just maybe) only dry up or make your keyboard a bit sticky. That, most of the time however is not the case. Also, even if it’s working at first; if it’s left alone like it is, it’s usually not over.
Typically, even the smallest amount of liquid can damage the computer little by little. It could take a long time to actually show any symptoms, but the liquid can spread, the residue or remnants can grow and eventually cause problems, corrosion & damage to vital internal components such as the logic board, Hard drive, connections or flex cables.
Worse even, it can get into the the Li-ion battery, short it out and cause it to swell up and expand beyond what the outer shell of the device can hold. It starts pushing the case out, sometimes causing extensive additional damage to the device as it does but not only that, it could even be very dangerous if the casing around the battery should happen to split open, exposing the internal chemical compounds of it to the air. That causes a reaction that produces fire and emits harmful gasses into the air, which is extremely dangerous! You don’t want to breathe that. Not even a little bit.
So, before that happens, the smartest and best option is to remove the liquid and/or the residue left behind after it dries, as soon as possible before corrosion and/or further damage occurs.
First though What you should do is to unplug the device from the power supply or charger, turn the device off and leave it off until it has a reasonable amount of time to dry. Do not use heat to dry it! That can evaporate the liquid and make it spread. As soon as you can, and If possible, it should be opened and the battery disconnected from the logic board to reduce the chances of an electrical short and/or further damage.
Make sure the device is completely dry before attempting to power it back on or plugging it back into the battery, charger or power supply to have the best chance of a positive outcome.
One can clean up the affected area by lightly brushing it with a brand new, unused soft toothbrush and a solution of 95% to 99% isopropyl alcohol. (DO NOT USE 70%! It is 30% water) This can be found at your local pharmacy, various department stores, or online. Doing that soon enough you might just stop the liquid before any actual damage occurs.
Keep in mind that the internal parts or your device are very sensitive and doing this without causing additional damage is not so easy without the know-how or the right tools and it is definitely possible to do it yourself, but it can be hard to do if you don’t know what you are doing.
You should be aware of the risks and steps and tools to use and consider all of these things beforehand if you are thinking of doing it your self. 🙂
Safest way to save your laptop and data is also the most expansive option, Make sure not to use the laptop and do not attempt to turn it on, air dry the excessive liquid if needed and do not put in rice bag as that case additional damage due to the rice dust,
If you can disconnect the battery until liquid damage is cleaned or the bad part is replaced, do not turn on and take it to experienced technician,.
Hope that was helpful, Good luck 🙂
Watch how we disassemble the 14″ MacBook pro 2021 M1 Model A2442
