I would have went somewhere “safe” - no dried grass, no flammables and taken a BB/pellet gun to the battery pack. But that’s just me.
In all seriousness though, good on that shop, I’ve seen the local hazmat turn down swollen batteries.
Last edited:
Lithium-ion battery excitement!
- Thread starter OVERKILL
- Start date
I would have went somewhere “safe” - no dried grass, no flammables and taken a BB/pellet gun to the battery pack. But that’s just me.
In all seriousness though, good on that shop, I’ve seen the local hazmat turn down swollen batteries.
JHZR2
Staff member
That’s true but I can’t say that I’ve really needed to.
The 4GB in my 2010 MBA is a little low if I keep too many browser windows open, I’ll grant that. The 16GB in my 2013 MBP is never capped out.
You'd be running into Apple's 10 year Mac battery replacement policy where they **maybe** replace the battery. However, that one looks like they wouldn't do it at all because it's severely damaged the chassis. If that's 13" they probably have the battery in stock (I got one for my mid-2012) but won't do it because they limit the stock they have for eligible models.
The one model that's an outlier is the 13" mid-2012 Unibody model. That one was the cheap one on the market until it was pulled in October 2016. I had service until 2021 and even longer in some places (California has a 7 year requirement by law for anything selling for over $100 that has a warranty). It's not really about the warranty per se, but once something is sold for that price and where there's a warranty the rules on parts availability kick in. Yours is a Unibody, where the first models were in 2009.
I've seen Apple batteries swell up a couple of times. The first one was my 2007 (Intel Santa Rosa) MacBook. However, that one was different with a user-replaceable battery that was semi-external. I don't think this is complete unit, but it shows where the battery attaches and the cam lock that uses a coin. When mine swelled, it pushed out but didn't affect the chassis per se. I had weird stuff with that battery, including once where it shut down unexpectedly and the started back up reporting negative battery capacity. Obviously the power management system was corrupted with bad recorded data. It actually went back to reporting positive capacity but then went back negative. Then it swelled. I actually got it replaced as a "service replacement" for less than the price of a retail replacement. I had to exchange my bad battery (what was I going to do with it anyways?) and it only came with a 90 day warranty. A retail replacement would have a 1 year warranty.
The mid-2012 Unibody I have needed a new battery and was slightly swollen. It wasn't like what you had, but the trackpad didn't "click" when pressed except maybe in the corners if I pressed really hard. They actually replaced it as a regular battery service.
This was my personal worst. I pulled it out of a 2010 MacBook(white polycarb unibody) on January 27 2017 and it looked like this
I took it to work with me as I'd asked our environmental health and safety people if they'd take care of it for me(they always owed me favors as I figured out the IDs on a lot of unknown waste mysteries for them and saved them piles of money). From the time I pulled it out to the time they took it on January 30th, it had turned into this
Not sure if it would have done this had I left it in the computer, but also I didn't want to find out. I've seen these polycarbs shatter if left unchecked.
I actually still use the computer periodically now, and still on the Newertech battery I fitted back then. With an SSD and 8gb RAM, it does decent. I can remember taking that particular computer in to the Apple store to try and get a bottom rubber replacement(another issue with them) in 2016 right after Sierra beta had dropped. I'd installed it on the computer with a spinner and 2gb, and it was all but unuseable. The Genius who helped me hadn't seen Sierra installed on a computer yet, but that wasn't a great first impression
(but they did replace the rubber for free under the extended recall).
My 2012 15" MBP still has its original battery, but it's been in use continuously. I seem to see battery swelling most often in computers either that are put away after being used regularly, or in ones put back into use after sitting for a while.
Whatever the case, though, as soon as the trackpad starts feeling stiff or mushy, it's time to yank the battery.
I took it to work with me as I'd asked our environmental health and safety people if they'd take care of it for me(they always owed me favors as I figured out the IDs on a lot of unknown waste mysteries for them and saved them piles of money). From the time I pulled it out to the time they took it on January 30th, it had turned into this
Not sure if it would have done this had I left it in the computer, but also I didn't want to find out. I've seen these polycarbs shatter if left unchecked.
I actually still use the computer periodically now, and still on the Newertech battery I fitted back then. With an SSD and 8gb RAM, it does decent. I can remember taking that particular computer in to the Apple store to try and get a bottom rubber replacement(another issue with them) in 2016 right after Sierra beta had dropped. I'd installed it on the computer with a spinner and 2gb, and it was all but unuseable. The Genius who helped me hadn't seen Sierra installed on a computer yet, but that wasn't a great first impression
(but they did replace the rubber for free under the extended recall). My 2012 15" MBP still has its original battery, but it's been in use continuously. I seem to see battery swelling most often in computers either that are put away after being used regularly, or in ones put back into use after sitting for a while.
Whatever the case, though, as soon as the trackpad starts feeling stiff or mushy, it's time to yank the battery.
