Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Battery Replacement

I just replaced both my screen and battery. It took four hours and a couple of wrong turns but I was successful learning what to do next time. However, I am not sure I would do it again.

It takes more heat than one imagines - all most too much and made me queasy fearing I was going to damage something. I would say it actually too hot and likely to damage something so be careful and do not prolong the removal. To get started I used a glass top warming/buffet heating tray set to about 200 degrees.  I turned the surface pro glass side down before turning it one so it would heat gradually with the tray. I let it heat for 15 minutes. In end, I am not sure it helped or not by starting this way.  This was not an easy removal so I shudder to think how worse it would have been if this didn’t help. I used a variable heat gun for the remaining steps. My screen was broken so breaking it further while nerve racking was not going to be catastrophic.

I attempted battery replacement, but during disassembly, i damaged the display by inserting the picks to far, and separating the display circuitry from the glass.

I used a Milwaukee precision hot tool model 1400, which has only a fixed heat setting, but it worked perfectly to soften the adhesive.

(I was very careful to heat the entire glass panel by playing the heat gun over the entire surface so that it would expand uniformly.

I just broke mine during the heating process as well…. The glue at the corner was so strong that I cant even slip a blade into the edge… Then when keep applying heat using a hair dryer at low tempreture the glass expanded too much and broke……

Be very very careful!! Don’t cut yourself. Wear gloves.

Wear eye protection too!

I used an inexpensive variable heat gun with a dial. It was perfect. My fixed temperature gun would have ruined it. There are two small vents on either side of the screen near the top. Start there and work down on each side. I didn’t have opening picks to keep the glass separated from the body. So, I used blank Cards Against Humanity I found lying around.

I watched two popular videos. Neither helped and were no better than these instructions. In one video, the guy heats and smashes his way around the display with metal tool. Mistake! Don’t do this even if the screen is broken. This causes glass shards to go everywhere and will force you to replace the adhesive before installing a new screen. You can’t reuse adhesive if it is full of glass. Another video uses a heat gun one side at a time and simply sliding a pick along the edge working around the Surface. This didn’t work. The person had already removed the screen once before and started the second removal before the video.

This guide misses a CRUCIAL NOTE on this step.

On this step, from Picture 1 to Picture 2 the device is rotated so the Windows logo on the glass is actually on the left hand side.

You *must* rotate the device otherwise you will risk damaging the cables, as it folds open like a book.

Pain in the ass! One has to wonder why they couldn’t use magnetic connections instead of this goo, black thing that even to replace is so %#*@ annoying to say the least! After trying to remove a broken screen I didn’t even use the adhesive strips. I used the ones I had there and to be frank it’s better since:

a) I couldn’t get the new screen properly aligned and to fit to perfection even though the touch works flawlessly (w/ some adhesive tape on the top to hide the gaps) and

b) who knows? you may as well need to reopen it again. Hopefully not.Hopefully it will be easier. Hopefully never again!!!

P.S.:

It's always best to disconnect the battery before disconnecting the display cable. Ensuring there is no power to the device will also ensure you don't damage the backlight components when disconnecting the display. You should also make sure to reattach the display cable before reattaching the battery cable when putting it back together.

There is also a tiny little board between the ribbon cable and motherboard. Be sure not to lose it!!! If you do the part is 1631 LCD Contact Shield Plate.

You’ll notice a spring on the back of your old screen. The new screens don’t have that spring so it will need to be transferred over by the heat gun trick.

A plastic card and non-metal spudger were too flexible to work. I used the metal spudger working the outer edge (right and top) getting about half way through these three cells. I then used my hand to pry up at about 60 degrees with a firm slow steady force. The adhesive slowly separated. The batteries were double sided taped to the back of the surface pro. The tape is very thin. It came off with the battery cells and could not be reused. Therefore, I used several lines of Tesa tape for the new battery cells. Make sure the connector on the new battery reaches and fully squares off to the bridge connector on the motherboard. First time I was off by a tiny fraction of an mm. The battery cable has zero give. I had to remove and reset the new battery.

The batteries were so strongly adhered by the double face tape, that I ended up using a wooden paint stirrer with the end chamfered into the shape of a chisel (used a razor blade to cut the bevel on the end of the paint stirrer).

I was able to apply a lot of force using this tool to separate the batteries from the frame.

No way to take the screen off without cracking it PERIOD!!!