iPhone 4 Earpiece speaker very quiet after spill. Help?

**reznor9** · 03-16-2011, 09:28 AM

My wife spilled her chocowine (it's a chocolate wine) onto my iPhone 4.
I quickly dried it off and allowed it to set inside a bag of rice to soak up as much moisture as possible.

Now the next day I powered it on and everything works fine. The volume buttons were a little sticky but no problems so I thought until I made a phone call. Now the volume is so low I can barely hear it. On speaker phone or on Bluetooth it sounds great, but ear speaker is super low.

Now I've disassembled the phone as per the ifixit guide and I've yet to see any signs of leftover wine inside the phone. Nothing appears to be burned out, nothing sticky, nothing discolored. I haven't cleaned anything just yet. I just have it laying out as I'm questioning what do to next.

Any suggestions?

Btw my water sticker in middle of iPhone is still white.

But the earpiece speaker has a bunch of red dots on it. Are those supposed to be red or are those all water damage stickers on the earpiece speaker that have turned red?

**z3r01** · 03-16-2011, 09:45 AM

Water damage triggers the earpiece water marks, can't take it back for free swap...u haz to pay for repair

**reznor9** · 03-16-2011, 10:16 AM

I never intended to take it back. I don't have warranty or receipt. Bought it off eBay to unlock for tmobile.

My question is what my next step is.
I came across 2 other threads that sound exactly the same as mine(one was coffee the other sprite) but neither was resolved, or at least they didn't post a resolution. Seems in their case replacing the speaker had no effect, nor simply cleaning the mesh port. So I'm just trying to gather info before purchasing or cleaning parts.

**Cowboy** · 03-16-2011, 10:39 AM

Thats probably the cheapest and easiest way to do it is just replace the whole front screen assembly

**reznor9** · 03-16-2011, 10:54 AM

I'm not understanding how that might help. Doesn't the front screen assembly only contain the front glass, digitizer and LCD?

**Cowboy** · 03-16-2011, 10:56 AM

Yeah but its a an absolute pain ( i do this for more or less a living) to just replace the speaker on any iphone. You can pick up the whole assembly for around 60 bucks if you search for it and its a lot easier repair

**reznor9** · 03-16-2011, 11:01 AM

I have already disassembled the iPhone. I have the speaker in my hand. So that's not a problem unless I need to take more stuff apart?

I followed this 20 step guide. Time consuming but not hard at all.

Installing iPhone 4 Earpiece Speaker - iFixit

**harmon** · 03-16-2011, 11:01 AM

Wester is mistaken, the frame contains a small separate earpiece speaker I believe.
Unless the logic board is damaged replacing it should fix the problem...

**Cowboy** · 03-16-2011, 11:04 AM

YEs that was my bad yeah thats a pretty simple fix just replace it

**reznor9** · 03-16-2011, 11:04 AM

I think all th assembly contains as far as the speaker is concerned is the mesh grill. But I don't think it has the speaker fused to it.

**Cowboy** · 03-16-2011, 11:05 AM

no and you can clean the grill with alcohol if needed

**reznor9** · 03-16-2011, 11:16 AM

I'll give it a try. Hopefully cleaning the mesh grill and also giving the speaker an alcohol wipedown and a shot of compressed air will remedy the issue. If not I will purchase the replacement speaker. Which hopefully will fix it at that point. Because I'd hate for it to be the motherboard Because I can't even find a motherboard for sale anywhere.

**Cowboy** · 03-16-2011, 11:33 AM

Well report back with us and let's us know

**reznor9** · 03-16-2011, 03:16 PM

Well i got it back together and it didn't make a difference.
Except that now my wifi doesn't work well at all. Lol
But cell reception works just fine. What should I double check that might be causing the poor wifi reception?
In the meantime I'm going to order that earpiece speaker and hope that is my problem and not something else and I'll hopefully fix the wifi issue at that point.

**harmon** · 03-16-2011, 05:10 PM

The long screw from the top shield has an effect on wifi.. Make sure it's in the right spot it can damage LCD in the wrong place.

**Cowboy** · 03-16-2011, 05:23 PM

**reznor9** · 03-16-2011, 05:33 PM

Well I made sure it's the correct screw I used. I labeled them all during the teardown and reassembly.
But it's possible I didn't screw it down tight enough. Since I wasn't sure if I had to go back in there to replace the ear speaker I didn't want to apply too much pressure and risk stripping the screws my 2nd time around. So I'll order that piece and take care of it then.

Edit: now that you mention it I can hear something slighty rattle up top when I shake the phone. So it's possible it's that screw. Is it something i should take care of immediately or can I wait a couple days until my part comes in?

**delutedsoul** · 03-16-2011, 07:07 PM

I'm curious to know if replacing the speaker helped. I'm having similar issue with my ear speaker but nothing liquid to my knowlege has been in the speaker. But for some reason I can barely hear on voice calls. So I assume the ear speaker is in need of replacing. Please let us know how it's coming along

**reznor9** · 03-16-2011, 07:16 PM

I just ordered the part so I'll let you know.
I feel a bit discouraged because 2 similar stories don't report success after changng the speaker. But the speaker is only $5 so it's worth a try.

**Cowboy** · 03-16-2011, 07:23 PM

Yeah not bad price

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Thread: iPhone 4 Earpiece speaker very quiet after spill. Help?

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My wife spilled her chocowine (it's a chocolate wine) onto my iPhone 4. I quickly dried it off and allowed it to set inside a bag of rice to soak

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