Moto G6 is literally coming apart at the seams!

[Danny Kewl]

Hi, I have an almost 2 year old Moto G6 (just the G6, not Play or Plus). Had it in the same case that length of time. About a month ago, found it was hard to press the power button. I finally just took it out of the case, and in doing so, found the allegedly permanently sealed back cover was coming loose on the side with the power button as well as the bottom where the USB-C jack is. Looks like the adhesive is stretchy but no longer very tacky, and trying to manually press the back cover into place is futile as it won't stay and won't even go all the way in. The phone still works, and after removing it from the case, I now see the power button is fine. I assume it's out of warranty now, I think 1 year and I have no add-on protection plan on my T-Mobile bill. I seen videos of people removing the back cover with a heat gun and razor blade to replace the battery. On what I can see, doesn't look like my battery is bulging. Tempted to crazy glue where the cover is separating, but I doubt that would hold with the pressure that makes the cover pull out again once pushed down. I would think at this point I could carefully just manually remove the whole back cover by hand.My dexterity is awful on repairing small delicate things. Can a shop repair this fairly cheaply? Any advice? I'm in Ohio/USA. Thanks!

 

[BergerKing]

Wow, that is quite a dilemma. Can you tell if it's an outright failure? I've seen phones do this from getting tweaked even in a case from being in a tight pants pocket, too. A decent repair shop could do it, remove and replace the adhesive, but I'd have them replace the battery while you were at it, to save near-future requirement to replace, which is pending.

 

[Scott337]

I tore apart a Moto G5 once and it was fairly simple, so I would think it wouldn't be too expensive for a phone repair shop to fix that. I agree on the new battery idea.....if they are going to take the whole back off to re-glue it might as well put in a new battery

 

[Danny Kewl]

Thanks BergerKing and Scott337, sorry took so long to get back, 1001 things to do, and hardly time for any. In the last couple of weeks, I was able to peel the back case half off, and indeed a swollen battery. Still seems to hold somewhat of a charge. I just been using it at home for misc. home use, and making sure to make sure it's off when I'm not near it in case it decides to go pyro. I put my SIM in my old Sammy Galaxy CorePrime for now, which also has a swollen battery, but looks more stable that the G6. I just found an HG30 battery for $4 plus shipping from a place in MI called Mobile Defenders, will order that. There's a cell phone repair place nearby that said they'll put the battery in for me for $20. They said don't get a cheapie battery, a good one $20+, but all those on eBay and Amazon are no-name batteries. The one I'm ordering says Motorola right on it, and they say an authorized OEM. At least to get me buy, still want to get another phone. The Galaxy Core Prime is slow. Will order a fresh battery for that too as my emergency backup.

 

[unixwizzard]

Thanks BergerKing and Scott337, sorry took so long to get back, 1001 things to do, and hardly time for any. In the last couple of weeks, I was able to peel the back case half off, and indeed a swollen battery. Still seems to hold somewhat of a charge. I just been using it at home for misc. home use, and making sure to make sure it's off when I'm not near it in case it decides to go pyro. I put my SIM in my old Sammy Galaxy CorePrime for now, which also has a swollen battery, but looks more stable that the G6. I just found an HG30 battery for $4 plus shipping from a place in MI called Mobile Defenders, will order that. There's a cell phone repair place nearby that said they'll put the battery in for me for $20. They said don't get a cheapie battery, a good one $20+, but all those on eBay and Amazon are no-name batteries. The one I'm ordering says Motorola right on it, and they say an authorized OEM. At least to get me buy, still want to get another phone. The Galaxy Core Prime is slow. Will order a fresh battery for that too as my emergency backup.

Hey how did the battery swap go?

I'm about to do the same thing. Got new phone and was getting ready to pass on my G6 and found the same thing, battery swollen and popped the back case.. So I'm probably going to go your route and replace the battery.