google may have just announced a brand
new pixel 4a but if you own a google
pixel 3axl
and you're thinking of upgrading hold
that thought replacing the battery will
only take you about 30 minutes
and when you're done you'll have a phone
that works just like new for this repair
you'll need
an eye opener a suction cup a set of
ifixit opening picks
tweezers a spudger a t3 torx screwdriver
some isopropyl alcohol and your
replacement battery to begin this repair
we first need to remove the display by
cutting through the adhesive holding it
in place
for reference you can see the thin
strips of adhesive lining the sides of
the display
and thicker strips along the top and
bottom edges in the next steps we'll be
inserting an opening pick underneath the
display to begin separating it from the
body of the phone
the pixel 3axl has two seams one for the
display and one for the mid frame
make sure you're inserting your pick
into the display seam place the suction
cup along the right hand side of the
screen
just underneath the volume button while
pulling up on the suction cup strongly
to create a small gap
insert the edge of an opening pick at a
slight downward angle between the screen
and the plastic body of the phone watch
your angles
inserting the pick horizontally can
separate the glass from the oled panel
our screen was already cracked but
follow these instructions closely or
yours will end up like this too
if you feel your pick hitting anything
don't go any further you may be hitting
the oled display and we don't want to
damage that once you've inserted your
pick slide it up and down the side of
the phone to cut the adhesive
keep in mind during this whole process
we don't want to insert the opening pick
between the display and the glass
to be safe don't insert your opening
pick more than a few millimeters into
the phone
on any edge if you encounter any strong
resistance
heat up your eye opener following its
directions and place it on the phone for
a few minutes to heat up and soften the
adhesive
hang on to that eye opener if you've
started using it the adhesive along the
top
and bottom edges is thicker and stronger
than on the sides
heat up the eye opener now and place it
along the top edge of the phone
once the top edge is nice and hot gently
slide the pick along the top edge
take extra precautions while sliding the
pick here both the camera
and proximity sensor are housed in this
region and we don't want to damage them
when you've safely made it to the
opposite corner slide the pick carefully
down the left-hand side of the phone
the bottom adhesive is just as tough as
the top so reheat that eye opener and
start warming up the bottom strip of
adhesive
carefully slide the pick around the
lower left edge and across the bottom
remembering to not insert the pick more
than a few millimeters deep
once you've made it all the way around
the phone with your pick the screen
should be fully separated but
don't try and remove it just yet there's
a cable attached to the back of the
display which is connected to the
motherboard and we need to disconnect
that first
lift the screen by its top edge and flip
it 180 degrees so the front of the
display is laying on the open phone
remove the tape covering the display
connector bracket and then remove the
two t3 torx screws holding the bracket
on
remove the bracket and then use your
spudger to disconnect the cable your
display is free
there are a total of 15 screws holding
the mid frame in place and while they
are all t3 torx screws
they're not all the same make sure to
keep them organized with something like
our magnetic mat
to remove the mid frame we'll start by
inserting a pick into the mid frame seam
at the bottom of the phone
and sliding it along the bottom edge to
release the clips once those are
released slide the flat edge of an
opening pick up the right side
and the left side of the phone to
release the clips there lift the bottom
edge of the mid frame up slightly but
not all the way
there's a fragile cable at the top edge
of the phone we need to disconnect
before we can lift it all the way
off while lifting the mid frame use the
spudger to disconnect the proximity
sensor cable in the upper right hand
corner of the phone
now the mid frame can lift right off to
remove the battery we first need to
disconnect some cables
starting with the batteries cable once
that's disconnected and there's no more
power running to the rest of the phone
we can safely disconnect the remaining
three cables that are connected along
the top edge of the battery
the thick interconnect cable in the
middle can be completely removed so
disconnect the bottom end
and remove it the battery is secured by
two adhesive strips
the first drip's pull tab can be found
on the bottom right hand corner of the
battery
the second can be found in the upper
left corner of the battery
to remove these strips first use
tweezers to grab the black pull tab
then grab the pull tab with your fingers
and very slowly pull the strip away from
the battery
the strip will stretch to many times its
original length so just keep pulling
if you're unlucky and your strip breaks
don't worry just use your fingers or
blunt tweezers to retrieve the remaining
length of adhesive and continue pulling
if there's no way to access the
remaining strips move on to the next
strip
if that one breaks as well you can use a
little isopropyl alcohol underneath the
battery to dissolve the remaining
adhesive
once the strips are removed use an
opening pick to lift the battery up and
out
now we just need to install our new
battery if your replacement battery
didn't come pre-installed with adhesive
reapply new strips in the same
orientation the old strips were placed
the upper pull tab should be on the
opposite side of the battery connector
and the bottom pull tab should be on the
same side as the connector
remove the protective strips covering
the adhesive and place the battery into
the phone
press the battery down to secure it in
place
reconnect all the cables that you
previously disconnected saving the
battery connector for last
position the mid frame so that the
proximity sensor cable is over its
connector
and then use the spudger to press it
into place lower the mid frame and press
it into place making sure all the clips
engage with the body of the phone
screw in the 15 screws that secure the
mid frame making sure they all go back
into the same holes they came from
if you're reinstalling your existing
display you'll need to prep it for new
adhesive
to begin use some tweezers or your
spudger to remove the large chunks of
adhesive from the back of the panel
and the mid frame then use some
isopropyl alcohol to thoroughly clean
where the old adhesive was
once it's clean reapply your new
adhesive
lay the display face down on the phone
so that its cable connector is pointed
towards the bottom of the phone
then lift that cable up and press it
into its socket to reconnect it
replace the cable bracket
and then secure it with the two screws
we removed earlier
before you re-adhere your display make
sure everything is working as it should
nothing ruins your repair like finding
out something doesn't work after you've
glued it shut remove any adhesive
backing
and then flip the display over and press
it into place
after you're satisfied with the seal put
the phone under a couple of heavy books
for 30 minutes or so
to help the adhesive bond to ensure your
new battery performs the best it can we
recommend calibrating it after your
installation is complete
to do this simply discharge your new
battery to below 10
then charge it uninterrupted back to 100
that's it you're done
you