iPhone 4 Battery loses charge really quickly, charges far too slowly, and overheats.

[jp22]

Hi, thanks for reading.My iPhone 4 suffered some water damage last Thursday. I shut it off, dried it, took it apart, used a vacuum cleaner to suck out remaining water, put it in rice, etc.

I reassembled the iPhone on Sunday. It sprang back to life, and I was able to use every function on it. However, there were three problems:

1. The iPhone would lose its charge about five times faster than before.
2. The iPhone started to overheat.
3. The iPhone would charge about ten times too slowly.

I bought a replacement battery and installed it myself. The iPhone started up again, but the EXACT same problems (loses charge too quickly, overheating, slow to charge) persisted.

I only got the phone 15 months ago, and I'm not eligible for an upgrade. Considering the phone functions perfectly when it has power, I'm thinking I only need to replace a certain part. (Maybe I'm wrong.) I don't know what that part could be, though; I only know it's not the battery.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

EDIT: I apologize for not searching to see if this problem has been addressed before. I will do that now.

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[iJeff]

Sounds like you have an internal issue with your phone, I would take it to an Apple store and let them have a look at it. They may still replace it.

[DaveM]

There's an internal short (or more correctly a path of low resistance between places there shouldn't be) somewhere that was caused by the water. Either there's moisture still inside providing a current path, or there's corrosion that's formed that's conducting current. If it's just moisture, there's a slim possibility that it will get better over time as it completely dries, but I doubt it. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I don't think you're going to fix this one.

[jp22]

Thank you both for responding.

Sounds like you have an internal issue with your phone, I would take it to an Apple store and let them have a look at it. They may still replace it.

I may take it in tomorrow. I'm not completely familiar with Apple's policy regarding out-of-warranty phones, but I will probably attempt to get a refurbished model. That would be worth it provided it does not restart my contract with AT&T.

There's an internal short (or more correctly a path of low resistance between places there shouldn't be) somewhere that was caused by the water. Either there's moisture still inside providing a current path, or there's corrosion that's formed that's conducting current. If it's just moisture, there's a slim possibility that it will get better over time as it completely dries, but I doubt it. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I don't think you're going to fix this one.

Yes, I doubt it will get better over time too. It's been nearly a week.

I would find this a bit less frustrating if the phone didn't function so perfectly when it has juice. The sound, camera, reception, WiFi, etc. all work flawlessly.

I have backed up all my data. I might as well do a full restore just...for the hell of it, I guess. I don't expect a restore to fix a hardware issue, but it's worth a try.

I will provide an update in this thread however this situation resolves itself.

Again, thanks.

[jp22]

I took the phone to an Apple store earlier today. I turned in my phone and paid $149 to get a new--not refurbished--iPhone 4. This doesn't affect my eligibility for an upgrade, fortunately.

[DaveM]

That's good that they took care of you jp, and probably a fair price considering everything. Glad to hear you got it resolved.

[drchiou]

The overheating could have been overlooked and a new iPhone could have been issued to you. I had the same problem. All of a sudden my iPhone became really hot. Before playing games, making calls, browsing the internet...it was always warm. Brought it in to the Apple Store. They issued me a new one. I guess it depends on who you get...