# My GF spilled salad dressing into my keyboard!



## Adrian. (Nov 28, 2007)

About half a tablespoon went in around the arrow keys. I popped them out and cleaned up as much as possible. I pulled the battery out as soon as it happened.

Without a doubt some got into the bottom casing, but not alot. 

How long should I wait before turning it back on again to see if it works?

24hrs?

Thanks


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

What kind of dressing was it? An oil dressing would take a long time to solidify...


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## Macified (Sep 18, 2003)

If you know that some got in there I'd suggest you bite the bullet and take it to be cleaned.

It should only cost about 1/2 hour to an hour of service time.

This, of course, assumes that you have a Mac repair center in your area.

Good luck.


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

Exactly. This ain't water.


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## rgray (Feb 15, 2005)

Macfury said:


> Exactly. This ain't water.


Right. Salad dressing contains vinegar (acid), salt (also corrosive), oil (residue which can grow mould), sugar (mould food) among other deleterious substances.... All in all quite the pot-puree of nasties. Do not let it dry on. Get it cleaned ASAP. Make the GF pick up the tab.....


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## Adrian. (Nov 28, 2007)

It sat out last night. I have AppleCare. Apple won't cover this I'm sure and it definitely voids my warranty correct?


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## broad (Jun 2, 2009)

no and yes, if any residue is left inside and is visible to any future technician


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## hayesk (Mar 5, 2000)

If you can get it cleaned by a technician and it's cheaper than a new keyboard, do that.

Failing that, I once cleaned a keyboard by running it under the bathtub faucet, and let it dry in a window on a windy day - it worked perfectly. Try that at a last resort.


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## Mac_100x (Mar 12, 2010)

If it was water it wouldn't have been too bad but salad dressing can do some damage. What I did once and it was pretty crazy was when my friend's Macbook had a bit of ice cream dropped between the keys, I used those wet wipes and gently went in the key with it but not to far and with a little bit of a push the stain was on the wet wipes and the ice cream inside was gone. I made sure the wet wipes were fairly dry, so if I squish too hard it wouldn't pour more water inside, but in the end it did the job. But since yours is salad dressing I would advise getting it to a technician.


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## johnnyspade (Aug 24, 2007)

hayesk said:


> Failing that, I once cleaned a keyboard by running it under the bathtub faucet, and let it dry in a window on a windy day - it worked perfectly. Try that at a last resort.


I think this is a laptop though, and not just a keyboard. I agree with the others, you should take this in. Salad dressing contains a couple of things that aren't electronic friendly, namely acid and oil. Corrosion could be a factor in time.


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

.


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## macuserforlife (Oct 30, 2004)

Most important thing here is to get it cleaned BEFORE you try turning it on again. 

You are correct, if the tech sees that there has been a spill, you will void the warranty. If I were you, I would open it up and try to clean it myself. Again, that's what I would do, not a recommendation and will, of course, depend on how handy you feel opening up an Apple laptop  Remember, you have to be willing to risk damaging it further or even breaking it completely or don't even try it yourself!! Please re-read that last sentence before deciding.

FWIW I purchased a 2.0GHz C2D Black Macbook about three years ago from a student who had spilled beer on it. Admittedly, I was lucky that he didn't play around with it too much and I was able to open it up and give it a good clean. At the time, I cleaned off and replaced the thermal paste, cleaned the logic board, connectors etc and left everything to completely dry before reassembling it. To this day, the laptop is used every day in a business environment and performs flawlessly. YMMV, there is absolutely no way to know how much, if any, damage was done.

The point is, you will probably need to strip it completely down to frame in order to get at everything. This is not that big a job if you're confident and properly prepare the area and tools. There are plenty of "how-to's" online. Be sure you have the right tools before beginning. A stripped screw is going to be hard to explain to the tech!

I'm not a tech but I've done this a few times with sick Apple laptops so, feel free to pm or email if I can help.


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## Laptop Surgeon (Mar 4, 2004)

take the sage advice from Macified, bite the bullet and get a tech to clean and dry out the inside. should be under 100.00. 

if this happens yesterday, it may still be ok. If corrosion is not stopped, it may kill the computer in weeks if not days.


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## Adrian. (Nov 28, 2007)

Laptop Surgeon said:


> take the sage advice from Macified, bite the bullet and get a tech to clean and dry out the inside. should be under 100.00.
> 
> if this happens yesterday, it may still be ok. If corrosion is not stopped, it may kill the computer in weeks if not days.


I took it in today, the guy said that it might take until Friday to even do a diagnostic and then I can make the decision to have it cleaned out etc. They charged me $30 to have a "diagnosis". Should I phone them and tell to just clean it immediately.

I told them it was salad dressing, wouldn't they understand the pressing nature of the substance. 

Should I phone them and tell them to do it quickly or what?


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## hdh607 (Sep 8, 2008)

Definitely get it cleaned. And since it's under AppleCare, get a technician to do it. 

BTW where are you at? I would be happy to help you out if the techs scoff at it.


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## Adrian. (Nov 28, 2007)

hdh607 said:


> Definitely get it cleaned. And since it's under AppleCare, get a technician to do it.
> 
> BTW where are you at? I would be happy to help you out if the techs scoff at it.


I'm in Toronto. I took it to iRepair (like iRepair.ca) store. This voids the AppleCare though, so there is no point taking it to an apple tech is there?


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## Laptop Surgeon (Mar 4, 2004)

cleaning procedure involve, taking the logicboard out, battery connector, and magsafe connection module out. put them in a alchohol bath for at least 1 hr. then clean and dry thoroughly. 

dont know if Astore techs will do it. they are trained to say, oh liquid spill, applecare no longer applies. If they agree to do it for a charge, then you can buy applecare again after it is done if you like. Applecare is lame compare to the premium warranty offer by the other major laptop oem(HP, Dell, Lenovo etc). Their premium warranty is as expensive as applecare, but they cover accidental damage like crushed by suv, or dropped in the lake.


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## KC4 (Feb 2, 2009)

Well Adrian...any update on the salad dressing saga? 

Is it totally Forked?


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## Adrian. (Nov 28, 2007)

I just got back from iRepair and they had it done in half the time they said they needed and at half the cost! The dressing did not get in as far as the logic board and was only "surface" contamination. $30 diagnosis + $80 bucks to clean the thing up is not bad. 

I would recommend iRepair, at least that location anyway. They did a stand up job and they even emailed me a file I needed for a presentation this morning as soon as they had the computer up and running!

Does anyone know if this will void my AC?


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## eMacMan (Nov 27, 2006)

I would ask the tech to document the repair. That is mention what was cleaned and that the contamination did not reach the logic board. May not help but it cannot hurt. Also hang on to that receipt.

Main thing is it shows you took the steps necessary to prevent future problems.

Have you listed the GF on Craig's list yet?


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## Adrian. (Nov 28, 2007)

eMacMan said:


> Also hang on to that receipt.
> 
> Main thing is it shows you took the steps necessary to prevent future problems.


Would this help if the computer started to die? Would this help out with AppleCare?


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## eMacMan (Nov 27, 2006)

Adrian. said:


> Would this help if the computer started to die? Would this help out with AppleCare?


Being able to show that the contamination did not reach the logic board might or might not help. The important thing is that it can't hurt.


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