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As the title suggests, I have an iPhone SE which has dish washing liquid inside the front speaker grill. Since then, the audio sounds a bit distorted, and quieter than usual. Would it be possible to replace the front speaker grill? If they cannot be purchased, are they removable at least so it could be washed? Also, as I live in Australia, could somebody recommend a suitable place to purchase the speaker assembly, front grill and tools required. Do IFIXIT sell in Australia?
Hi @jamesricho, As you know water and electronics and electricity are not a good mix. The impurities in the water causes corrosion and provides circuit paths for the electricity which were not in the phone’s operating design and could damage the components. First do not turn on your phone and then you need to with the phone turned off, remove the battery as soon as possible from the phone to minimize further damage. Then you need to dis-assemble the rest of the phone and clean all the affected parts using Isopropyl Alcohol 90%+ (available from electronics parts stores) to remove all traces of corrosion and water. Do not use “rubbing alcohol” as in some cases this is only 70% IPA or less, can contain scents and is not as effective. If you do check the label to verify the amount of IPA Here is a couple of link that describes the process. Electronics Water Damage Repairing iPhone Liquid Damage As always with electronics, especially surface mounted PCBs be gentle when handling and especially when brushing away the corrosion. You do not want to remove any components from the board. Hopefully after you have done all this the phone might possibly work correctly again. Here is a link to the ifixit guide(s) for repairing your phone. iPhone SE (1st Generation) Repair If this process seems too daunting, take your phone to a reputable, professional phone repair service, experienced in liquid damage repair and ask for a quote for a repair. If you decide to do this, do it sooner than later. ifixit does have a store in Australia but unfortunately these are the only parts it sells for your phone. Here’s a link to the available parts for your phone from the U.S store
From the text i suppose you haven’t really been repairing a lot of phones if any. Low sound from speakers are usually caused på dirt or something that is blocking the sound waves from coming through the speaker grill, distorted sounds are usually caused by a damaged speaker so you might want to replace that earpiece speaker which should be easy to get your hands on. Ifixit sells them here - iPhone 5s/SE (1st Gen) Earpiece Speaker Another thing to keep in mind is that the earpiece speaker is connected to the frontcamera flex so you might want to check so all sensors and the front camera is working aswell. The sensors on the frontcamera flex cable is the proximity switch sensor which makes the phone go black when you’re talking on the phone, you can test this by just calling someone and hold your hand up close to the speaker grill and if the phone goes black it’s all good. auto brightness is also controlled by a sensor on the camera flex so if your screen is at lowest brightness when booting on a sunny day that sensor probably isn’t working. You can buy that part here if needed iPhone 5s/SE (1st Gen) Front Camera and Sensor Cable For the cleaning part of the speaker grill it’s quite easy to access aswell. here’s a guide that removes all parts to get to the earspeaker grill. iPhone SE Front Facing Camera and Sensor Cable Replacement You might also want to check if the water got anywhere else in the phone, water and electronics isn’t a great mix.
Hope this helps. :)
Omg lol such long answers try taking the screen off theres a small rubbery plasticy grill that is accessible at the back of the screen where the speaker goes… just carefully remove it with some tweezers and clean it up with a toothbrush and some isopropyl, watch videos and guides on how to take it apart etc… If that doesn’t work then order a new earpiece speaker :)
The phone works perfectly fine other than the front speaker, which is still semi-functional. I will use this information to decide what my best options are. Thanks.
