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Hi all. My friend’s MacBook Pro has a severely swollen battery. It’s so swollen the 3 screws in the front are being held in by the pressure, and the metal case is even puffing out a little bit around the perimeter of the screw openings (other screws came out fine). I’m trying to remove it so it can be safely disposed of. I’ve ordered some small F-clamps, hoping to at least equalize the pressure enough around each screw to allow removal, but if that doesn’t work, is there any safe way to deflate it? Or would drilling the screws out be an option? (They’re so tiny, though.) Thanks much!
I wanted to follow up, in case anyone else was having this issue in the future. The F-clamps did help to get the screws out. (Being careful to support body of laptop/touchpad so as not to make dents or cause damage, I used small metal rulers and padding between the rulers and the metal body/touchpad.) Placing a clamp on either side of a screw, it helped to even out the pressure so they could finally be removed. There was no way to simply pull out the battery w/pliers as suggested, as front screw-tabs (metal, part of the laptop frame) were holding the swollen battery in place. Even once fully open, it took several minutes of gently but firmly wiggling the battery to work it out from under these tabs. Once the battery was out, the trackpad took some manipulation to pop back into place after being displaced by the swollen battery, but once reassembled everything worked perfectly (well done, Apple!). Cost to repair was under $40 (replacement battery + clamps), so, overall, this was a huge success, as far as my friend was concerned, and the little MacBook lives on. (Battery was taken to hazardous disposal site.)
Don’t take the screws out now. Use a pair of needle nose pliers and break the plastic tabs off. But now that the pressure is off, DO NOT WAIT! Get that battery out NOW! It could blow up by double by in the morning. Get it into a heavy plastic bag in case it totally blows. After the battery is out you can remove the screws. See the tabs on steps 5 & 6 of this guide: MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Battery Replacement
