Replaced Upper Case MacBook Pro 15"

My Problem

I had the great idea of cleaning my wife's MacBookPro 15" with WINDEX. It cleaned it beyond belief; fried the keyboard too. Being out of warranty, Apple quoted me $1200 to fix it, $200 less than a new one. I bought the part from iFixIt and did it for less than $350.

My Fix

Using the step-by-step instructions from iFixIt, the teardown took 1 hour. I took my time, took pictures of everything removed, and used many plastic bowls to separate each component with their respective screws. I could have done it faster but I only had one chance at doing this job correctly. After it was in pieces, I cleaned the dust off each part with ALCOHOL and slowly put it back together without damaging or losing any screws or components, it took 2 hours. Two steps that took the longest were, reconnecting the 3 airport/bluetooth antenna connectors, and reconnecting the paper-thin keyboard cable. I ended up using a magnify glass to reconnect these items. I fired it back up and it worked like new. It really wasn't that bad of a job.

My Advice

Advice: Spend the few dollars it takes to have the right tools for the job. The Y-Tri-wing screw and spudger came in handy in removing the battery and unplugging the fragile, miniature connectors. I also used a anti-static mat with wrist band. Don't know if it prevented damaging any components, but you never know. Do the job when you have the time and are not rushed, and are fully awake and able to concentrate on the step-by-step instructions. And lastly, to avoid this type of costly repair, ONLY use rubbing alcohol when cleaning keyboards. Or better yet, get a plastic/rubber keyboard cover.