Sweet drink over my keyboard

Question

My daughters friend poored a glas of limonade over the keyboard of my MacBook Pro. Now several keys on that side of the keyboard won´t respond. I also experienced that the display showed the firewire symbol moving arond the screen when rebooting the machine.
I have thaught of opening the machine to clean the keys. How do I open the machine? Or what should I do?
Message was edited by: Peer Haugen

Answer 1

First of all, do not put power to the machine until after the spill has been cleaned up and the machine is bone dry. Remove the battery at once to prevent the Mac from being turned on accidentally.
You should open the machine in order to clean up every trace of the lemonade. You can find instructions at ifixit or powerbook medic:
http://www.ifixit.com/
http://www.powerbookmedic.com/
Use deionized or distilled water on a cotton swab to clean up any visible liquid or residue. If you leave it, the acids in the lemonade could eat away circuitry over time.
The keyboard will likely need to be cleaned as a separate project:
http://repair4laptop.org/notebook_keyboard.htm
You may even need to replace the keyboard.
I don't know what the explanation for the firewire symbol might be.
Keep in mind that the liquid could continue to trickle down into the machine over time, and later on drip and cause damage. You should be able to see where it has gone, as liquids leave traces. It's imperative to get it all cleaned up.
Once clean, be sure the machine is bone dry before putting power to it. This will take several days in a warm, dry environment, but NOT in an oven. A high shelf in a warm dry room would be best.
Good luck!