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If you are having issues with the Moto Z2 Force's motherboard, use this guide to replace it.
Before you begin, download the Rescue and Smart Assistant app to backup your device and diagnose whether your problem is software or hardware related.
For your safety, discharge your battery below 25% before disassembling your phone. This reduces the risk of a dangerous thermal event if the battery is accidentally damaged during the repair. If your battery is swollen, take appropriate precautions.
Warning: The screen assembly of this device is comprised of a rigid midframe and a flexible plastic display that can split apart during disassembly. Excessive heat on the display can also cause it to bubble up or warp, and this is very difficult to remedy. If you plan on reusing the screen assembly, heed all warnings carefully and do not use any heat on the display.
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Insert the point of the SIM card eject tool into the sim card lock at the top of the phone.
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Press down on the SIM card eject tool until the SIM card tray is slightly ejected from the device.
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Remove the SIM card tray from the phone.
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When separating the sides of the screen assembly from the device's frame, you will need to release five metal clips securing it in place.
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Three of these clips are located on the left side of the device, and two are located on the right side.
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You will need to work around these clips with your opening pick in order to fully release them.
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You can either carefully slide an opening pick around these clips, or leave a pick on one side of the clip while prying the other side with another pick.
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Insert a Jimmy or other metal tool between the right side of the plastic display and the metal frame, near the phone's side buttons.
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Tilt the Jimmy downward while continuing to push it deeper into the gap to pry up the right side of the screen assembly.
No — *slaps wrist* No. Bad steps! Don’t use the suction cup at all, ever. It causes the two layers to separate immediately, long before the frame clips give way to let the screen come off.
I’m being super ultra very careful with this second attempt on a new device (that was in pretty pristine condition, if I can keep it that way!), and right when I tried pulling as instructed, the screen layers started to pull apart. Use a blade shoved into the edge of the phone and pry it apart, releasing the latches in the process!
I have to agree with Matt above. At the smallest bit of pressure on the suction cup, the screen de-laminated from the metal base. It still “works”, but….
None of the tools in the kit is terribly suited for getting in there and prying that clip apart without splitting the screen.
lease Read the Comments poste on “STEP 2”, When you apply the heat, the screen becomes unglued from the metal fram that it is attached to. I ended up damaging my screen. You need to make sure that what is coming unglued is the metal, and not just the plastic screen. I found out when I saw another video, where they do not apply heat, they just use a tool to pry the frame-display assembly… But apparently it was too late… You should be more specific about the warning…
A jimmy does not come with the kit. Buy one before beginning this procedure. It is the best way to lift the screen assembly without damaging the assembly.
This whole guide has been rewritten since my last comment, and I super appreciate it. The steps are now much more appropriate and less likely to cause damage. Jamming your Jimmy (huehue) into the edge of the screen is actually quite a good idea, not likely to hit anything as there’s nothing but body underneath it.
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With the Jimmy still inserted, insert an opening pick under the silver midframe, on top of the Jimmy in the same location
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Remove the Jimmy.
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Slide your opening pick all along the right side of the device to release the clips and adhesive securing the screen assembly.
this is really for the digitizer and screen replacement. there are still more steps for just the screen.
There is an enormous amount of adhesive sticking this thing together. As the adhesive is not essential (it holds together with clips, mostly), you really need to focus on *removing* the adhesive, so that it doesn’t stretch and bunch-up, preventing clean reassembly. Leave behind the adhesive that you can prevent from bunching-up (by cleanly breaking it, in turn by holding down one edge to the phone or screen), so you have some sticky left, but just make sure it’s not bunched-up.
Revisiting this comment a year later: there’s now replacement adhesive available (or maybe there always was - wish I knew!) for this model in the iFixit store. So, it would be best to remove the adhesive whereever you see it, cleaning everything up and preparing for the new adhesive. That darn adhesive in step 9 below, though… ugh. Work slow, don’t expect it to all be apart by this point.
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Once the screen assembly's right edge is separated, slide your pick around the bottom right corner of the device so it is underneath the bottom edge of the assembly.
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Slide the tool all along the bottom edge of the phone to slice through the adhesive securing the screen assembly and release the plastic clips.
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Leave your tool underneath the bottom edge of the screen assembly to prevent it from re-adhering to the frame. Continue to the next step with a new tool.
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When separating the left side of the screen assembly, take care to not snag the display cable located on the left edge near the bottom of the display.
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Insert another opening pick underneath the bottom edge of the screen assembly and slide it around the bottom left corner of the device so it is underneath the assembly's left edge.
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Slide your tool all along the left edge of the phone to separate the metal clips and adhesive securing the screen assembly.
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Slide your tool around the top edge of the screen assembly and slice all along it to slice through its adhesive.
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There are two large pads of adhesive securing the screen assembly near the top edge but further past the 4 mm that have already been sliced through.
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The front facing sensor array and cable surround the right patch of adhesive from the top and right, so prying or slicing from the top or right edge may damage the cable. The following steps will describe how to separate the adhesive from the left edge.
This is a tricky part. See the biggest red-squared section in the photo above? That part always wants to detach — the adhesive to the screen is stronger than the molding that holds the metal into the plastic. The metal will detach from the plastic pretty easily, and there’s no way to get that metal back into the plastic frame (as it seems to have been molded as a single part). So, the adhesive is a booby-trap.
To defuse the booby-trap, heat the heck out of it, insert one end of tweezers (or perhaps a spudger) from the right side, hold the metal plate down, and verrry slooowwly convince the adhesive to separate. At some point, it’ll start cascading and snap free.
The metal finger area, between the two red squared sections above, also is a problem area — it’s latched into a frame above the battery, and those latches can get pulled up on top of the frame, preventing the phone from reassembling clean and flat. Make sure to re-insert those tabs so that little edge with the metal fingers sits flat and proper.
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Apply a small amount of high concentration (>90%) isopropyl alcohol underneath the screen assembly's left edge, near the top of the device.
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Allow the device to sit upright on its right edge for ~5 minutes to allow the alcohol to penetrate and weaken the adhesive.
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Insert an opening pick as deep as possible under the top left corner of the screen assembly to slice through the left patch of adhesive.
I found that a plastic card inserted from the left side, and worked with a sawing motion, between the screen and the adhesive worked great after the adhesive was softened by the alcohol.
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Slowly and carefully slide the flat end of a spudger under the left edge of the screen assembly. Gradually insert it deeper to pry up the top edge of the assembly and release the right patch of adhesive.
Again, pay careful attention to the strong block of adhesive sticking the display to a metal shield that’s molded into the plastic frame - the adhesive strength is quite likely to pull out the metal shield from the plastic frame and there’s no going back from that. Not as catastrophic as ripping a ribbon cable, but still pretty bad. See my comment a couple photos up about that.
I added some alcohol directly to the adhesive patches on this side of the phone and waited a couple of minutes before continuing with this step.
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Lift the screen assembly from the right edge and swing it open. It is still attached to the phone chassis at the lower left edge, so do not fully remove it yet.
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If the screen assembly remains stuck, slice the adhesive repeatedly as needed.
Do this only after slicing all the little ribbons of adhesive that hang around - and clean up any gummed-up, bunched-up strands of adhesive after removing it. I worked at detaching adhesive until the screen was totally free, only held by the ribbon cable, before moving on from this step.
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crwdns2935267:0crwdne2935267:0Tweezers$4.99
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Use a pair of tweezers to remove the black piece of tape covering the battery connector.
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Use a spudger to pry up the locking tab on the display cable's ZIF connector.
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Use a pair of tweezers to slide the display ribbon cable out of the connector.
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Remove the screen assembly.
When reconnecting the display ribbon I found it much easier if you straighten out major 45/90 degree bend that is in the middle of the ribbon until the entire ribbon is all unbent and in parallel with the display face. You will then have a straight shot into the connector without having to hold the display at a 90 degree angle to the chassis and then having to look around, over or through the display to (and if luck is with you) find, lineup and insert the ribbon into the connector. You have to do a little in 3 dimensional thinking to re-bend the ribbon and line the display back up with the chassis but if you’ve made it that far then you should have no problems. Don’t bend the ribbon back and forth too many times.
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crwdns2935267:0crwdne2935267:0Tesa 61395 Tape$6.99
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Use a pair of tweezers to remove the two black pieces of tape securing the battery.
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Use an opening pick to pry up the small black bracket covering the battery connector. It is secured with a small bit of adhesive.
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Use a pair of tweezers or your fingers to remove the bracket.
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Use a spudger to pry up and disconnect the battery connector.
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Unscrew the three 1.7mm T4 screws from the speaker.
There are actually 3 screws in the speaker
There are indeed 3 screws in mine as well. I updated this step.
There are three screws, one additional is in the lower right corner (orientation like seen in picture)
My Z2 Force has 3 T3 sized screws. So be aware that there is often some variance in cell phone construction.
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Use the nylon spudger to lift and remove the speaker from the phone chassis.
It’s not mentioned in the guide but you need to make sure to gently pry the ambient light sensor off of the speaker before removing the speaker or you will likely end up ripping its cable and connector from the motherboard.
If this happens the phone will still boot and work but the screen will be stuck at full brightness and won’t shut off automatically when making phone calls.
Mr Hallock is definitely correct! Definitely something that should have at least noted, if not given a full description of how to do that! Be careful!!
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Insert the flat end of the nylon spudger on the side of the rear facing camera closest to the battery.
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Pry up the camera by pushing down on the spudger until the camera pops up.
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Insert the flat end of the nylon spudger underneath the black lock.
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Unlock the ribbon cable by pulling up on the lock with the nylon spudger.
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Separate the rear facing camera from the board by pulling gently towards the bottom of the phone.
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Using the spudger, lift up the bar on the ZIF connector that joins the ribbon cable to the control buttons.
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Unscrew four 1.8mm T4 screws from the speakers and remove from the motherboard.
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Insert the flat end of the nylon spudger underneath the edge of the phone near the camera.
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Gently pry the motherboard from the phone until it is raised enough to put a finger between it and the phone.
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With your fingers, gently pry the rest of the motherboard up from the phone.
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To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
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My lcd came apart the entire assembly didn't come up as the instructions showed it would and it tore the ribbon connector.
This phone is not a good first DIY for anyone. I’ve been repairing phones since years and i separated the AMOLED panel from it’s frame too. Lucky me i was gently, used a lot of heat and flooded it with IPA so i could still re use this panel, but i realized it can be a pain in the ass for someone less expert than me.
Rafael B -
Rafael, I also detached (partially) the AMOLED panel from the frame and now my display don’t light anymore. I know this not other part’s fault, because the phone vibers when I press the power button and also when I touch the fingerprint sensor. There is no visual damage neither in display/frame or the cables. A partial detaching is enough to make the screen dont power up anymore? Or is something else causing this problem?
For &&^&* sake, you tell me to be careful not to remove the screen assembly AFTER the step where it's pried apart!? Is there nothing I can do??
