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How could I get the keys to work after a spill?

I recently spilled 5 big drops of water mixed with tomato juice on the keyboard of my MacBook. I dried it out and cleaned up the keys.

My big mistake was to turn it on again after only 20 minutes and then i realised that components had been damaged since the full column of keys (9, o, l, : and arrow up and down) are not working any more.

I then directly turned it off again and put the keyboard face down on a heat of rice for 48 hours.

After 48 hours, the same column of keys doesn't work anymore and i'm looking for the best solution to fix my problem.

I completely disassembled it (excepting the backlight and keyboard which are stuck to the top case) before trying to turn it on the second time. I cannot see any sign of spill under the backlight.

Do you think that only the keyboard can be damaged?

What should my my next step for you? Should i try to disassemble the keyboard and clean it or there's no chance for my dead keys to work again?

How could I be sure that my keyboard only is damaged without changing it? (I'm writing with an external USB keyboard right now).

Thanks a lot

PS: I have been trying to be very careful when disassembling the MacBook and especially the connectors of the logic board, but some very little chips seem to be very fragile. Is there many precautions to take while doing it? What are these?

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Have you tried popping off the keycaps and try cleaning underneath them? I would start there.

If a given key set column is not working that means the acid in the tomato juice may have damaged the wiring within the keyboard. I would suspect the keyboard will need replacing.

As you have already discovered there are quite a few screws (85+) and/or snap rivets holding it to the upper case. Sadly, Apple does not offer as a spare the keyboard alone only as part of the upper case. With that said, you might find a parts house which carries the keyboard alone. If you have the screws only version its worth the effort to replace the keyboard, if on the other hand you have either snap rivet version its just easier to replace the full upper case or just want to get the job done without the hassle. Just make sure you get the correct one for your system.

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Thank you very much for your very useful answer!

I haven't tried to dismount these keys since yet, but i will try now.

Otherwise, do I have another way that disassemble my machine again to figure out if i get screws or rivets on my keyboard ? I haven't seen the little screws/rivets when i disassembled it last time because the backlight (black cover) seemed to be stuck to the case, so i couldn't even see the keyboard.

Is the electronic bay fine to find such parts? (topcase or keyboard)

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zimbaga will be eternally grateful.
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