Can the Mini be saved, post-Pepsi Syndrome?

Question

I have a Mini my friend gave me to attempt to save that her idiot roommate spilled a can of knockoff generic cola onto, she said it worked incrementally worse and then stopped working at all gradually, which is a bad sign IMO. However the morons at the local non-Apple repair shop quoted her an arm and a leg to save it, which is ridiculous when she only got the Mini for $500. Chalk it up to Windoze/PC idiocy I suppose...well, I have taken the lid off it and it seems the CD drive is unscathed but the back and the side with the RAM slots looks good and sticky, just like someone spilled generic no-name cola across the top. Can I save this somehow, and if so, with what?

Answer 1

Almost certainly the logic board would have taken the worst of the spill, as you say it's at the bottom of the casing and that's where the soda would tend to pool until it began to dry. That isn't to say it will have killed it, but sadly the chances are high that it will have done so - or at least have caused sufficient damage that it would not function correctly. However, at the cost of these things, and if it were me (aside from demanding the roommate pay for replacement) I would probably give it a go, despite the amount of time.
It's difficult to know if anything would be salvageable otherwise - probably the hard drive because that's sealed, but even then it'll require careful cleaning - and it would be imperative to keep the cleaning solution away from the edges of the top plate or any vent in the drive casing. The optical drive may be OK, but if any soda got inside it, more than likely it will be too hard to fix. Memory may likewise be OK, but will need careful cleaning.
The worst aspect of this - aside from the spill in the first place of course - is that to stand any hope of recovering the system, or even any parts from it, entails a lot of time and careful effort, with no great hope of actually succeeding. Whether you want to give it a try depends on all the circumstances of course, which only you know in this instance, but as I said, at the cost of a new one, I would be inclined to give it a go.
As far as the time it takes to answer - well bearing in mind you posted late evening (EDT) the views you got were more likely from others looking for help than anyone around looking to help someone. Just a bad time of day for the regulars who are predominantly spread around Europe (middle of the night at that point) and Eastern and Central US. On top of that, while your question was a pretty short one, as you can see from the answers you've had today (and leaving aside the snotty bits about attitude of course) the replies you needed were actually quite complex - at least time consuming to compose given any real attempt to assist you. It's not that any of us don't understand the sense of urgency when an issue hits and the user feels the need for answers as fast as possible, but even then there are perhaps better ways of displaying that urgency! Anyway, it's done and you can't go back and change the post you made, so in a broader sense, speaking for myself, I'd be inclined to expect replies after 30-60 minutes during the day on a weekday in US time, but to perhaps expect a longer period to elapse earlier or later in the day or at weekends. Of course that's an appallingly general guide, but bearing in mind that most posters are here looking for help, the number of views rarely indicated the number of possible helpers who have read a question.