Battle of the Bulging Trackpad

My Problem

I was presented with a MacBook Pro with a broken Trackpad; it had several cracks radiating from its center, and was raised up out of the case almost 2 inches. I immediately suspected a bad battery, and as I removed each bottom cover screw, the battery pushed it up more with a high pressure. by the time most of the screws were out, the the battery had ballooned up. I was so fearful that it would explode in my face, I put on a face shield before continuing. Luckily, I was able to remove and properly dispose it with our used batteries.

My Fix

Installation was fast. I removed the 10 screws on the bottom cover, lifted the lid, inserted the battery, replaced the two "Y" screws and plugged the battery connector to the system board. After replacing the cover, the MacBook Pro was ready to go.

My Advice

There's one tool that you might not have: Y1 Tri-wing Screwdriver. I thought that I didn't, but then looked in my "ifixit 54 Bit Driver Kit", and found that it included the bit. I recommend that kit; it contains most of the tools I need to repair Macs.