Chosen Solution
Shortly after getting the MacBook Air chewing gum got lodged in the Thunderbolt Port. At the time I didn’t use Thunderbolt so I just gave it a quick clean and away I went. A year or so on, and I want to use thunderbolt to connect to a monitor, but it is very hit or miss. If I wobble the cable I can lose the connection completely, or everything goes slightly green. The connection appears corroded, and the Thunderbolt cable itself looks slightly damaged (images below). I would really prefer not to have to change out the logic board, is there any way to effectively clean the corrosion from the port? https://postimg.org/image/ensyzqzyr/ https://postimg.org/image/ux15yab9x/ https://postimg.org/image/zcqvedcvh/
Use some isopropyl (95%+) and a small brush to clean inside the port. It might be quite difficult, since it is narrow. You probably won’t be able to clean the brown stain from the plastic, but I reckon the pins should clean up. If this isn’t successful, you would need to either replace the Thunderbolt port (soldered onto the logic board) or replace the logic board.
