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Repair information and guides for the iPhone 6 that was released on September 19, 2014. Model Numbers: A1549, A1586, and A1589

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Severely water damaged iPhone 6

So I dropped my iPhone 6 into a running sink and it got water damaged.(this was back in November of 2017. I didn’t have any rice or silica gel so I let it sit overnight. The next morning I turned it on and it had some noticeable water in the display. I went to go get some rice. I let it sit in water for the next 3 days. Everything worked fine until like mid December. One day I was just using the phone like it was any other day and then I punched the phone from the phone relatively hard and the screen just went black. I tried everything. I tried changing the screen, the batterie and the charging port. Nothing. I took the board out of the phone and saw there was a decent amount of rust of the right side of the board and I thought it was either water damage or something had come loose. I looking for any corrosion on the connectors and I didn’t anything. So i just let it sit in a drawer until now. I took the board out again and then I took off the black sticker on the back side of the board and I still didn’t see any corrosion. What do I now?

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With water damage, you have to decontaminate the logic board before doing anything else, otherwise there will be latent issues down the road.

Not every water-damaged phone is recoverable and depending on the kind of liquid (salty, dirty, filthy), sometimes the success rate is quite low. That said, IMHO, it's always worth a try otherwise we are just piling up the e-waste.

 The problem with using rice is that the water is inside the phone, on the logic board and under the shields, even under the IC's. The rice is nowhere near where the water is. So while it “may’’ soak up some water vapour, the real problem is the mineral deposits that can cause short circuits or the corrosion that is taking place as the water evaporates (as you saw when you opened it). Leaving the power on the device accelerates the process. The longer you let a phone sit in rice, the more time you are giving corrosion to damage your logic board. The saltier or harder the water is, the more damage will occur. The water needs to be displaced, not evaporated.

On some phones, rice treatments appear to work. But those are phones that had minimal water ingress and not anywhere near a danger area on the logic board. They would have recovered regardless of the intervention.

 I would try the following:

  • Open your phone and remove the logic board (follow this guide)
  • Inspect the logic board, especially around the connectors and look for corrosion.
  • Inspect both sides of the board. Unfortunately, most of the board is covered in shields. That's usually where the damage is occurring.
  • Put your board in a container with >90% isopropyl alcohol and let it sit for a while.
  • Use a soft brush, like a toothbrush and lightly brush away any corrosion you see.
  • Rinse in alcohol and repeat.
  • Let it air dry for a day.
  • Re-assemble and hope for the best.

You should also replace the battery if it has swollen. Resist the temptation to pop it to let the gas out. A compromised Li-ion battery is a fire hazard. If the device appears to power up but behaves erratically, then use a tool like 3uTools to flash the firmware as it may be corrupted.

A professional repair shop that does water damage repair may be able to recover your phone or the data because they have access to pro-level ultrasonic baths and specialized cleaners as well as the skills to troubleshoot your board. Many shops have a no fix/no fee policy so you don't have to spend money to find out if the phone is fixable or not.

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6 Comments:

How long should I let it sit in 90% isopropyl alcohol

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A few minutes should do fine.

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So let me get this straight. All i have to do is put the board in alcohol for like 2 minutes and then let it dry for a day or so? Is there anything I'm missing?

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I think you need to read my answer again. This is not a "sure thing". You remove the shields, you put it in IPA, brush it, dry it and "hope for the best". Normally the point is to displace the water. In your case, the water is long gone but the corrosion and any damage it caused are still there. Brushing in IPA should remove any mineral deposits and if you're lucky, that may be sufficient...it usually isn't :(.

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wait whats and IPA

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