I've spilled coffee on my m4 macbook air and immediately cleaned it afterwards. it seems to be working just fine, but should i turn it off and wait for few days? it's been 15 minutes awake and nothing seems to be broken so far except the error that there's liquid in usb-c port. what should i do?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Original Title: Spilled coffee on macbook
MacBook Air 15″, macOS 26.0
Re. the USB port, read this article --> If you see a liquid-detection alert on your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro - Apple Support
About liquid damage to Mac computers and accessories not covered by warranty - Apple Support
Liquid can be insidious, and yours isn't just plain water. I would first back it up now, and back it up at regular intervals. You may be living on borrowed time.
You may also seriously wish to have it evaluated by Apple. Go to this page to find your nearest Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) or Apple Authorized Distributor (AAD) --> Find Locations
How to make a Genius Bar appointment
1. Go to Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple
2. Go to "Get hardware help".
3. Select your hardware and continue selecting options requiring replacing parts until you see "Bring in for Repair"
4. Sign in with your Apple ID
or:
Refer to this document for ways to contact Apple ➞ Choose your country or region - Official Apple Support
Select your country (also look for "other" regions), then a product. If you don't see one that handles your issue then keep experimenting with selections until you reach one that gets you a chat session or a telephone call and get the representative to redirect you.
or:
Contact Apple for support and service by telephone ➞ Contact Apple Support - Apple Support
Re. the USB port, read this article --> If you see a liquid-detection alert on your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro - Apple Support
About liquid damage to Mac computers and accessories not covered by warranty - Apple Support
Liquid can be insidious, and yours isn't just plain water. I would first back it up now, and back it up at regular intervals. You may be living on borrowed time.
You may also seriously wish to have it evaluated by Apple. Go to this page to find your nearest Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) or Apple Authorized Distributor (AAD) --> Find Locations
How to make a Genius Bar appointment
1. Go to Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple
2. Go to "Get hardware help".
3. Select your hardware and continue selecting options requiring replacing parts until you see "Bring in for Repair"
4. Sign in with your Apple ID
or:
Refer to this document for ways to contact Apple ➞ Choose your country or region - Official Apple Support
Select your country (also look for "other" regions), then a product. If you don't see one that handles your issue then keep experimenting with selections until you reach one that gets you a chat session or a telephone call and get the representative to redirect you.
or:
Contact Apple for support and service by telephone ➞ Contact Apple Support - Apple Support
Even if you power the laptop off completely, some of the circuits on the Logic Board are still receiving power from the battery so that the laptop can be powered on by the power button, the keyboard, trackpad, and even opening the display clamshell lid, or even the USB-C ports may have power since connecting/disconnecting a device may power on the laptop.
At the very least the USB-C ports are toast (I'm always replacing USB-C ports for liquid damage). If the coffee hit the keyboard, then even if the keyboard electronics survived....the keys will likely become stuck by the dried coffee & it will smell.
FYI, if the initial liquid spill did not fry the electronics, then the corrosion which develops will kill the electronics. Corrosion can begin to form within minutes on the powered circuits, but it usually takes longer before it starts to eat into the metal & solder. Plus tilting the laptop will just cause the liquid to move to other locations within the laptop spreading the liquid damage & making it more likely for more problems.
I have the same issue thanks to a water spill on my MacBook Air that happened today. The problem with this is that it’s an Intel machine that I had for nearly six years and the computer was expected to be replaced in a matter of weeks before the spill occurred. The computer is also having missing key caps and considerable wear and tear.
Spilled coffee on my MacBook Air's USB-C port
