Wet mogul problem

[Keir333]

Originally Posted by nelly48237

i have opened up one before. the tool can be bought at any homedepot or lowes hardware store. i believe its a number 5 star allen bit. but it's important that you open it up and dry it out. otherwise when they get it and open it up, they will see that it was wet because the water will turn the wires and metal green. it doesn't matter if it doesn't come on or work. just as long as there isn't any signs of water damage inside the phone

It's a Number 5 Torx bit/driver that you need, not an Allen bit/wrench

Originally Posted by subhumanderelict

The best thing I heard you can do is to leave it in some dry rice overnight (like anurbanlegand suggested) or, if you have enough of those silica gel packets, use those. Don't use a hair dryer or anything that can force moisture further into the phone.

http://www.wikihow.com/Save-a-Wet-Cell-Phone

Both the dry rice and silica gel packs will dry out the insides by pulling the moisture out and absorbing it.


I would recommend the rice/silica overnight and then opening it up after that to make sure that there isn't any other signs that water/iced tea has been inside of it.

Originally Posted by fred_dj

I got away with the white sticker turning red by touching it with a cottom swab embebbed in bleach one time, it turns white right away. they gave me a new phonem it worked!. lol

I like the idea of the bleach on the cotton swab, but if they smell the bleach, and/or have some way of knowing that it was bleached, it could cause you further problems cuz they might think that you're trying to pull one over on them.

Originally Posted by lwrdrchvy2

You are both right. Wires and parts of the board corrode (turn green) and there is a liquid indicator inside the phone that turns red when it gets wet. The service techs are not supposed to purely go on the indicator to determine water damage, if they cant find any other signs of liquid damage they will usually replace it. So open it up, clean it up and take it in to get it swapped out.

My thoughts exactly.

I have had the liquid indicator on two different phones of mine turn red simply from being in my sweaty pocket over the course of the summer. This is the reason that they will open it up and look for additional evidence that there has been water damage. If you open it and clean it up enough that there isn't obvious signs of water damage, they may replace it without any additional charges.

Just my thoughts on the matter...

-Keir-

EDIT: This was my hundreth post, I'm a senior member now....Wooo Hooo!

[MrObvious]

Hmm I'm not sure about that. Most of the reps I've seen for Alltel see the red dot and say "bam, no warranty."

[Keir333]

Originally Posted by MrObvious

Hmm I'm not sure about that. Most of the reps I've seen for Alltel see the red dot and say "bam, no warranty."

Not sure what Alltel would say about the red dot.

The phones that I had which both had the red dot, were with Midwest Wireless, who was bought out by Alltel. I have noticed since Alltel took over that they are less forgiving about things when it comes to their customer service.

Regardless though, I never brought either one of those phones in for replacement because they were never water damaged and never stopped working. I had just noticed that both of them had the red dot indicating that they had been exposed to water, even though I know they never were.

I just figured that if you insisted that the red dot was not caused by the phone being submerged and/or spilled on, that they could open it up to check for any other signs of water exposure. Where as using bleach, if discovered by them may not show a red dot, but would definitely be a red flag that something out of the ordinary is going on.

-Keir-

[jason25]

You're better off, just "losing" it. I know that is wrong, but so is trying to hide the fact that it got wet.

[TweetyBear]

yeah, just call insurance claim for it. i kinda agree with jason25..>_<

[pvelliqtc]

I heard somewhere that you should use a vaccuum first to try to draw some moisture out, then put in a bowl of dry white rice over night. I've never had to try it, thankfully...

[TweetyBear]

i never heard of the vacuum trick but if it works, i'll add it to my list!

[MrObvious]

Actually a vaccuum cleaner would create ESD so that is a bad idea. Stick with the rice.

And Alltel still has great CS IMO (even if not in the stores because it takes forever, but they are working on that too). I mean that is why when I worked for a dealer I said you better get insurance not so we can make money but so you can protect your butt.

[ajent]

I left it in the bag of rice last night, put in the battery today, and the screen slowly faded back into view.
Keyboard, touchscreen, and calling all seems to work.
Thanks for the idea, I guess I got lucky!

[djheir]

I set my phone down in about an inch of water (cup leaked in my cupholder) and it was there for a good 20 minutes. As soon as I got home, I took the battery out, tried to soak up as much of the water as I could with a towel, and then left it in a bag of rice for about a day and a half. It's been working just fine ever since.