Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

21

Time Required

                          45 minutes - 1 hour

Sections

5

  • Lower Case
  • 2 steps
  • Battery Connection
  • 2 steps
  • Fan
  • 3 steps
  • Logic Board
  • 12 steps
  • Heat Sink
  • 2 steps

Flags

0

  • BackMacBook Pro 13" Unibody Late 2011

  • Full Screen

  • Options

  • History

  • Save to Favorites

  • Download PDF

  • Edit

  • Translate

  • Get Shareable Link

  • Embed This Guide

  • Notify Me of Changes

  • Stop Notifications

Introduction

What you need

Step 1

              Lower Case
  • Remove the following ten screws:
  • Three 14.4 mm Phillips #00 screws
  • Three 3.5 mm Phillips #00 screws
  • Four 3.5 mm shouldered Phillips #00 screws
  • When replacing the small screws, align them perpendicular to the slight curvature of the case (they don’t go straight down).

Remove the following ten screws:

Three 14.4 mm Phillips #00 screws

Three 3.5 mm Phillips #00 screws

Four 3.5 mm shouldered Phillips #00 screws

When replacing the small screws, align them perpendicular to the slight curvature of the case (they don’t go straight down).

1024

Step 2

  • Use your fingers to pry the lower case away from the body of the MacBook near the vent.
  • Remove the lower case.

Use your fingers to pry the lower case away from the body of the MacBook near the vent.

Remove the lower case.

Step 3

              Battery Connection
  • Use the edge of a spudger to pry the battery connector upwards from its socket on the logic board.
  • It is useful to pry upward on both short sides of the connector to “walk” it out of its socket. Be careful with the corners of the connectors, they can be easily broken off.

Use the edge of a spudger to pry the battery connector upwards from its socket on the logic board.

It is useful to pry upward on both short sides of the connector to “walk” it out of its socket. Be careful with the corners of the connectors, they can be easily broken off.

Step 4

  • Bend the battery cable slightly away from its socket on the logic board so it does not accidentally connect itself while you work.

Bend the battery cable slightly away from its socket on the logic board so it does not accidentally connect itself while you work.

Step 5

              Fan
  • Use the edge of a spudger to gently pry the fan connector up and out of its socket on the logic board.
  • It is useful to twist the spudger axially from beneath the fan cable wires to release the connector.
  • The fan socket and the fan connector can be seen in the second and third pictures. Be careful not to break the plastic fan socket off the logic board as you use your spudger to lift the fan connector straight up and out of its socket. The layout of the logic board shown in the second picture may look slightly different than your machine but the fan socket is the same.

Use the edge of a spudger to gently pry the fan connector up and out of its socket on the logic board.

It is useful to twist the spudger axially from beneath the fan cable wires to release the connector.

The fan socket and the fan connector can be seen in the second and third pictures. Be careful not to break the plastic fan socket off the logic board as you use your spudger to lift the fan connector straight up and out of its socket. The layout of the logic board shown in the second picture may look slightly different than your machine but the fan socket is the same.

Step 6

  • Remove the following three screws securing the fan to the logic board:
  • One 7.2 mm T6 Torx screw
  • Two 5.3 mm T6 Torx screws

Remove the following three screws securing the fan to the logic board:

One 7.2 mm T6 Torx screw

Two 5.3 mm T6 Torx screws

Step 7

  • Lift the fan out of its recess in the logic board, minding its cable that may get caught.

Lift the fan out of its recess in the logic board, minding its cable that may get caught.

Step 8

              Logic Board
  • Use the tip of a spudger to pull the right speaker/subwoofer cable out from under the retaining finger molded into the upper case.
  • Pull the right speaker/subwoofer cable upward to lift the connector out of its socket on the logic board.

Use the tip of a spudger to pull the right speaker/subwoofer cable out from under the retaining finger molded into the upper case.

Pull the right speaker/subwoofer cable upward to lift the connector out of its socket on the logic board.

Step 9

  • Disconnect the camera cable from the logic board.
  • Pull the cable parallel to the face of the logic board. Pulling the cable upward may damage the logic board or the cable itself.

Disconnect the camera cable from the logic board.

Pull the cable parallel to the face of the logic board. Pulling the cable upward may damage the logic board or the cable itself.

Step 10

  • Disconnect the following four cables:
  • AirPort/Bluetooth cable
  • Optical drive cable
  • Hard drive cable
  • Trackpad cable
  • To disconnect the cables, use the flat end of a spudger to pry their connectors up from the sockets on the logic board.

Disconnect the following four cables:

AirPort/Bluetooth cable

Optical drive cable

Hard drive cable

Trackpad cable

To disconnect the cables, use the flat end of a spudger to pry their connectors up from the sockets on the logic board.

Step 11

  • Use your fingernail to flip up the retaining flap on the keyboard ribbon cable ZIF socket.
  • Be sure you are prying up on the hinged retaining flap, not the socket itself.
  • Use the tip of a spudger to pull the keyboard ribbon cable out of its socket.
  • The cable may be difficult to insert. If you are having trouble, temporarily attach a piece of tape to the cable to help you guide the cable into the socket.

Use your fingernail to flip up the retaining flap on the keyboard ribbon cable ZIF socket.

Be sure you are prying up on the hinged retaining flap, not the socket itself.

Use the tip of a spudger to pull the keyboard ribbon cable out of its socket.

The cable may be difficult to insert. If you are having trouble, temporarily attach a piece of tape to the cable to help you guide the cable into the socket.

Step 12

  • If present, remove the small strip of black tape covering the keyboard backlight cable socket.

If present, remove the small strip of black tape covering the keyboard backlight cable socket.

Step 13

  • Use the tip of a spudger or your fingernail to flip up the retaining flap on the keyboard backlight ribbon cable ZIF socket.
  • Be sure you are prying up on the hinged retaining flap, not the socket itself.
  • Pull the keyboard backlight ribbon cable out of its socket.

Use the tip of a spudger or your fingernail to flip up the retaining flap on the keyboard backlight ribbon cable ZIF socket.

Pull the keyboard backlight ribbon cable out of its socket.

Step 14

  • Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the sleep sensor/battery indicator connector up from its socket on the logic board.

Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the sleep sensor/battery indicator connector up from its socket on the logic board.

Step 15

  • Grab the plastic pull tab secured to the display data cable lock and rotate it toward the DC-In side of the computer.
  • Pull the display data cable straight out of its socket on the logic board.
  • Do not lift up on the display data cable, as its socket is very fragile. Pull the cable parallel to the face of the logic board.

Grab the plastic pull tab secured to the display data cable lock and rotate it toward the DC-In side of the computer.

Pull the display data cable straight out of its socket on the logic board.

Do not lift up on the display data cable, as its socket is very fragile. Pull the cable parallel to the face of the logic board.

Step 16

  • Remove the following nine screws:
  • Five 3.6 mm T6 Torx screws
  • Two 4.3 mm T6 Torx screws
  • Two 7.2 mm T6 Torx screws
  • In some models the screws may be slightly shorter as follows:
  • Five 3.0 mm T6 screws
  • Two 3.6 mm T6 screws
  • Two 6.7 mm T6 screws

Remove the following nine screws:

Five 3.6 mm T6 Torx screws

Two 4.3 mm T6 Torx screws

Two 7.2 mm T6 Torx screws

In some models the screws may be slightly shorter as follows:

Five 3.0 mm T6 screws

Two 3.6 mm T6 screws

Two 6.7 mm T6 screws

Step 17

  • Remove the following two screws:
  • One 8.6 mm Phillips screw
  • One 5.5 mm Phillips screw
  • Remove the display data cable retainer from the upper case.

Remove the following two screws:

One 8.6 mm Phillips screw

One 5.5 mm Phillips screw

Remove the display data cable retainer from the upper case.

Step 18

  • Use the tip of a spudger to gently peel the microphone off the adhesive securing it to the upper case.

Use the tip of a spudger to gently peel the microphone off the adhesive securing it to the upper case.

Step 19

  • Minding the many connectors near its edges, lift the logic board from the end nearest the optical drive.
  • Without flexing the board, maneuver it out of the upper case, minding the flexible connection to the DC-In board that may get caught in the upper case.
  • Remove the logic board.

Minding the many connectors near its edges, lift the logic board from the end nearest the optical drive.

Without flexing the board, maneuver it out of the upper case, minding the flexible connection to the DC-In board that may get caught in the upper case.

Remove the logic board.

Step 20

              Heat Sink
  • Remove the three 8.4 mm #1 Phillips screws securing the heat sink to the logic board.
  • Don’t lose the springs held under each of the screws.

Remove the three 8.4 mm #1 Phillips screws securing the heat sink to the logic board.

Don’t lose the springs held under each of the screws.

Step 21

  • Carefully remove the heat sink from the processor.
  • If the heat sink seems to be stuck, it may be helpful to gently pry it off the processor with a plastic spudger. Be careful not to break any surface mount components on the processor while prying.
  • Be sure to clean off the old thermal paste and apply a new layer before you reinstall the heat sink. We have a guide that makes it easy.

Carefully remove the heat sink from the processor.

If the heat sink seems to be stuck, it may be helpful to gently pry it off the processor with a plastic spudger. Be careful not to break any surface mount components on the processor while prying.

Be sure to clean off the old thermal paste and apply a new layer before you reinstall the heat sink. We have a guide that makes it easy.

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

Cancel: I did not complete this guide.

                                                                                      52 other people completed this guide.

Author

                                      with 4 other contributors 


                    Phillip Takahashi

Member since: 08/22/2011

85,204 Reputation

                                      87 Guides authored                  



                       Badges:
                       43







                                                        +40 more badges

Bill Schultz - Oct 20, 2016

Reply

Really nice repair guide! There’s no way I would have gotten this right without your help, but after following your guide my computer works like a million bucks. I had gotten so used to the fan running full speed all the time I almost didn’t notice it anymore, but with the new heat sink the fan runs a low speed once again and the computer is nice and quiet like it was when it was new. Thank you.

Naveen Sondh - Apr 28, 2018

Reply

hello sir i have done all the steps but my macbook still heating up

David Badrak - May 4, 2019

Check the radiator, when I first opened mine up it was filled with dust. The radiator has a pipe coming from the CPU and it is right in front of the fan. It has little lines coming from it. I used a vacuum to clean it.

Luka Stosic - Jun 29, 2018

Reply

Thanks for the guide!

I had huge problems with heating up .. I even got a “leg hair burns” :)

I followed this instruction, replaced thermal paste (nothing fancy .. just some “normal” paste from local IT store), cleaned out all the dust (especially from fan)

now its running like new … fan rarely kicks in and when it does it cools it down really quickly. Of course running some intense apps (like lightroom, starting up photos app, many open chrome tabs with youtube etc … ) will do a lot of stress on CPU so it will heat up.

In general some slight “heating up” is always there .. Apple prefers to run their laptops warmer than spinning up fans. But after proper cleaning and replacing thermal paste it is much more manageable.

Small tip: those really small ribbon cables can be a pain in the a** to put back in, so i got them close to the connector, put a little sticky tape on them and used that sticky tape to pull on the cable and push it in the slot.

Alessandro Facchini - Sep 5, 2019

Reply

Like show in the last picture (21) on the left upper side there is a square shaped black plastic cover. Should we put the thermal paste there also ? Or we should not touch it? Thanks!