Water Damaged iPhone Troubleshooting Guide
Accidents happen and if you are here, chances are that you or someone you know have a water damaged iPhone.
These cleaning and troubleshooting guide may not restore your phone to working order, but once you have eliminated any liquid & cleaned away any corrosion / debris you may be able to determine if any parts need to be replaced.
For more information regarding repair services and parts replacement, please see link below:
Water Damaged iPhone Repairs and Parts
Troubleshooting and Cleaning Guide for Water Damaged iPhones:
Step 1 — Assessing visible external damage
- Look for liquid / moisture between the touchscreen & LCD. If the phone shows water build-up between the touchscreen & LCD & most likely contains more liquid inside.
- In some cases, there is no obvious damage / corrosion in the external dock connector.
- Check if there is obvious damage / corrosion in the headphone jack.
Step 2 — Disassembly of water damaged iPhone
- Liquid damage inside the phone may complicate disassembly. Beware of cables and connectors that may be adhered to other components in unexpected ways.
- Lifting the front panel of the phone, the flex for the dock connector has stuck to the back of the mid frame.
Step 3 — Assessing visible internal damage
- If the water damage sticker is pink, it is indicating that the inside of this phone was flooded with liquid.
- Residue and corrosion discoloration can clearly be seen on the connectors for the LCD, Digitizer & proximity sensor, as well as the camera and SIM card slot.
Step 4
- If the dock connector water sensor sticker has turned pink too, it is indicating liquid flooding of this end of the phone.
- Check the top of the dock connector. For instance, it may look fairly clean, with only a few green corrosive changes near the connector.
Step 5
- The rear of the display assembly may show more green corrosion and debris on the LCD and digitizer connectors.
- Removing the LCD and the back cover of the ear speaker & proximity sensor assembly can reveal liquid damage to the speaker.
- Check for the extend of damage on the proximity sensor.
Step 6
- Closer inspection of proximity sensor/earpiece flex can reveals more corrosion damage.
Step 7
- After removing the logic board more liquid damage may be visible.
- The vibration motor may have some rust.
- The battery pins may also be corroded.
Step 8
- Check headphone jack connector, the vibration motor & the volume switch show for corrosion.
Step 9
- Check rear of motherboard for signs of corrosion to the battery contacts.
Step 10 — Removing the logic board shield cover
- Depending on the nature of the liquid damage, removing the shield may not be necessary, and doing so risks damaging the small components mounted on the logic board. If you decide to remove the shield, proceed cautiously and use a plastic tool such as a spudger or a plastic opening tool to lever off the shield.
- Look for the dimpled tabs on the shield that reach down over the tabs attached to the mother board.
- Using your plastic tool, catch the edge of a dimpled tab near a corner of the shield & pry it up away from the logic board.
- Being careful of all the tiny surface mounted components, work your way around the available edges until the shield comes free.
Step 11 — Cleaning the logic board
- Submerge the logic board in isopropyl alcohol & allow it to soak long enough to loosen hardened residue & to displace any remaining water / other liquid. Use a soft brush to remove visible corrosion & residue.
- Residue from motherboard left in isopropyl alcohol container.
- Clean all flex ends, battery contacts, connectors, chips & fuses on motherboard with a soft brush.
- Repeat cleaning if necessary / if traces of residue are still visible.
- Allow the logic board / other parts to dry completely before reassembly.