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Repair and disassembly information for the 2020 refresh of the MacBook Air model A2179 with an Intel processor that was released in March 2020.

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Removing Corrosion from MBA motherboard and USB-C port

I am working on an early 2020 MacBook Air, which has had some water spilled on it. I removed the motherboard and USB-C ports and it seems like there is very little damage. A single capacitor on the motherboard is affected and the ports seem to have some slight corrosion as well. The attached pictures show the damage. Is there a way I could try to remove this corrosion?

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@oldturkey03 @danj @jayeff

Thank you for your advice. I cleaned the board with isopropyl alcohol and reassembled the computer. It all seems to boot now. If this is the case, do I need to take any other steps? It's not that important to me that the backlight works.

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@aliquid if it works, it works. If you are okay with not having the keyboard backlight working, you are good to go.

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@moefrumkin - Given the limits of two USB-C ports and needing one to charge the system

I would still opt in replacing the Port unit as corrosion damage tends to make the connections not as reliable and can create resistance & heat during charging.

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@danj What do you mean by "carrion damage"? Is there a chance that there is more damage that isn't apparent yet? Also, is there a place I can order a replacement USB-C port set?

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@aliquid - Typo😕

As for the part, I've posted a link to it within my answer. It's only $20 USD!

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@moefrumkin I also would opt to clean it with isopropyl alcohol as suggested by @jayeff I prefer to clean and reuse parts instead of just replacing. In my opinion it is a waste of money and resources to replace it, unless it is proven to be non-functioning.

After you cleaned the ports and the board properly, you will have to address the "vaporized" capacitor as well as the damaged appearing one. Use a capacitance meter on the larger one (C6520) to determine if it is indeed still functioning. If not, replace both of those.

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Reference designator C6520 is a 2.2µF 10% 25V ceramic capacitor in a 603 package

Reference designator C6522 is a 0.1µF 10% 16V ceramic capacitor in a 0201 package

Soldering a 0201 package component is not easy and will require a magnifying source as well as good skills. Both of these components are part of the keyboard boost converter circuit for your keyboard backlight.

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Hi @moefrumkin

Use a Q-Tip moistened (not dripping) with Isopropyl Alcohol 99%+ (available from electronics parts stores) and gently wipe to clean away all of the corrosion.

Use a clean part of the Q-Tip with every wipe.

Once the surfaces have been cleaned you should be able to see the extent of the damage to the affected areas. Hopefully it won't be that bad.

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For the USB-C ports I would just replace the part MacBook Air 13" (Late 2018-Late 2020) USB-C Board as cleaning it often isn’t enough. Here’s the guide MacBook Air 13" Early 2020 USB-C Board Replacement

You still need to replace the Cap as it does look damage.

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MacBook Air 13" (Late 2018-Late 2020) USB-C Board

$19.99

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Is there a risk associated with not replacing the capacitors if everything else seems to work?

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@aliquid

My view is that manufacturers do no use components unnecessarily.

They are all there for a purpose.

It may not be noticeable to you what they are for but they are there to ensure the correct operation of the circuit and in particular the other components around them that may be in the same circuit operation path that they're in.

It may be that nothing untoward will happen but it also could be that associated components may fail prematurely due to perhaps operating at a higher current/voltage level than what they or the circuit was designed for and overtime this weakens them due to the component not being there or it was faulty.

You would need to have the schematics to know what particular function each component was there for e.g. current control, limiting ect, correct voltage regulation etc

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