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Is it worth disassembling keyboard from front-cover to fix 2 keys?

Hey guys.

My kid spilled a cup of tea with sugar on wife's Air. Now it doesn't charge with it's own charger (14.5V, 3.1A) but it does with macbook pro's charger (18.5V, 4.6A). This is weird. Our local "certified" reseller (we don't have Apple Store in out country) suggested to avoid fixing it, since they could not identify the problem. I think they're lame but I'm ok with uncomfy charging. But there's still 2 keys not workng. The comma and period keys. These are quite important and used very frequently. Resseler suggested to replace keboard, but €250 is a bit pricey.

So what I was thinking — to get them fixed by myself. This is apparently circute closing, which in theory is easy to fix. I have experience disassembling our mid 2011 Air. Not the keyboard, but I did clean the logic board and most of other compartments.

What do you think? Is it worth disassembling the front cover from the keyboard and fix it? Are there any downfalls assembling it back?

Another idea I had is to wash the I/O board. I thought that if I could wash it in fresh water it would remove the left sugar out of the connectors. Sounds a bit ridiculous, but what do you think? :)

Notes: it does turn on, it works, just doesn't charge. Actually charging became unstable. I now cannot charge it with charger that I used just 10 mins ago, the one 18.5V.

Thanks.

Alex.

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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aleksandrmakov, besides all the suggestion made by Tom Chai, clean your boards with a high grade 90%+ isopropyl alcohol, including the connectors.

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Opening it up and visually inspect and clean the liquid contact would be the first recommended step. If problem is still present. Try cleaning the top case assembly. If still no good. Swap the logic board with another known good top case to determine whether the logic board or the keyboard is defective.The dead key problem is most likely due to sugar leftover in the keyboard membrane preventing contact. Try washing it off. I don't recommend disassembling the keyboard. It's tightly glued onto the top case and is usually replaced along with the top case.

Same idea for the power issue, hope the problem is on the IO board because replacing the logic board is expensive.

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Thanks for the suggestions. I will give it a try. But in general, what do you think about "washing" the board and then dry it completely afterwards? Sounds a bit russian, but, well... :)

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Washing with distilled water to clean off the tea and sugar (both water soluble) then washing it again using a high grade of isopropyl alcohol so you can pull the water out. Only do this on the logic board and nonporous parts. In the case of the keyboard this is tricky. Ideally you want to take it apart most of these are glued & riveted together to the top cover so you'll need to dip it into a tub of distilled water then isopropyl alcohol. Shaking it out and using compressed air blow it out between dips and then again after the alcohol dip. You'll need to let it dry out completely before re-assembly. If your luckily it will work otherwise it's time for a new top assembly.

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aleksandrmakov will be eternally grateful.
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