Will DJI repair my drone after salt water damage + home repairs?

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After a few years of decent use, what had to happen happened, I had a pretty bad crash with my Phantom 4 Pro V2.0. I was flying on the beach, it hit a tree I hadn't seen, and it fell in sea water (it was still on the beach but basically a wave drowned it entirely). A good thing is that the battery popped out of the drone instantly, so it might not have been powered when it was in the water. I took it out instantly, rushed home, immersed the drone in distilled water, then took it apart entirely and spent weeks/month cleaning every single board/part with distilled water and 95 degree alcohol. I replaced a few components either because I damaged them a little while cleaning/taking the drone apart, because they looked like they had been too exposed to the water, or because they had (slight) cosmetic damage. What I replaced is: the 3-in-1 board (but not the main board so I don't think the drone changed serial numbers), the two small cameras in the back, the sensors at the bottom, the lower part of the case and the landing gear.

All in all I've been very careful and tried to repair things as cleanly as possible; I was able to remove even slight traces of salt almost everywhere. But it's visible I've tampered with the drone: I had to drill two screws that I couldn't remove and I replaced them with different ones ones, I used tape of a different color, I used a thermal pad of a different color in the gimbal, etc. The salt issue is also probably visible because the metal foil around the GPS module became a bit green-ish on the sides. Also, I didn't attempt to clean the main motors or the gimbal's motor.

I turned the drone on and it's not too terrible. It connects to the remote and I get the video, and I calibrated it using DJI Assistant which proves all six small cameras work. The USB and SD card ports work; I was able to update the firmware. However, the gimbal keeps going up and down in a loop, which makes me think the gimbal's motors might be damaged. Basically IMU initialization never ends. The drone also says it's getting the altitude forever which means maybe I unplugged the GPS module by mistake (I really don't think it was damaged, water never reached it), but it might also just be that it's some default message that is there until IMU initialization ends. Usually that's all, very rarely I got errors about the ESC or sensors which might hint at deeper issues, but it might be a software thing as I was updating the firmware etc.

The next step would be to try to replace the gimbal's motors, but honestly I feel like I've spent way too much time on this. I'd like to send it for repair, and if they repaired it or even proposed to replace it with a refurbished one for like 800 euro (I think that's the price?) I'd gladly accept. However, I don't know what their policy is. Since it's clear I've taken it apart and replaced some components myself, and since salt water was involved, I think they might refuse to even look into it and just send it back to me.

Does anyone have experience with DJI Repair? Can I send it to them at this point?
 
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After a few years of decent use, what had to happen happened, I had a pretty bad crash with my Phantom 4 Pro V2.0. I was flying on the beach, it hit a tree I hadn't seen, and it fell in sea water (it was still on the beach but basically a wave drowned it entirely). A good thing is that the battery popped out of the drone instantly, so it might not have been powered when it was in the water. I took it out instantly, rushed home, immersed the drone in distilled water, then took it apart entirely and spent weeks/month cleaning every single board/part with distilled water and 95 degree alcohol. I replaced a few components either because I damaged them a little while cleaning/taking the drone apart, because they looked like they had been too exposed to the water, or because they had (slight) cosmetic damage. What I replaced is: the 3-in-1 board (but not the main board so I don't think the drone changed serial numbers), the two small cameras in the back, the sensors at the bottom, the lower part of the case and the landing gear.

All in all I've been very careful and tried to repair things as cleanly as possible; I was able to remove even slight traces of salt almost everywhere. But it's visible I've tampered with the drone: I had to drill two screws that I couldn't remove and I replaced them with different ones ones, I used tape of a different color, I used a thermal pad of a different color in the gimbal, etc. The salt issue is also probably visible because the metal foil around the GPS module became a bit green-ish on the sides. Also, I didn't attempt to clean the main motors or the gimbal's motor.

I turned the drone on and it's not too terrible. It connects to the remote and I get the video, and I calibrated it using DJI Assistant which proves all six small cameras work. The USB and SD card ports work; I was able to update the firmware. However, the gimbal keeps going up and down in a loop, which makes me think the gimbal's motors might be damaged. Basically IMU initialization never ends. The drone also says it's getting the altitude forever which means maybe I unplugged the GPS module by mistake (I really don't think it was damaged, water never reached it), but it might also just be that it's some default message that is there until IMU initialization ends. Usually that's all, very rarely I got errors about the ESC or sensors which might hint at deeper issues, but it might be a software thing as I was updating the firmware etc.

The next step would be to try to replace the gimbal's motors, but honestly I feel like I've spent way too much time on this. I'd like to send it for repair, and if they repaired it or even proposed to replace it with a refurbished one for like 800 euro (I think that's the price?) I'd gladly accept. However, I don't know what their policy is. Since it's clear I've taken it apart and replaced some components myself, and since salt water was involved, I think they might refuse to even look into it and just send it back to me.

Does anyone have experience with DJI Repair? Can I send it to them at this point?
Have you tried asking DJI? I wonder if they would send you a refurbished AC for the cost of repairs.
 
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I turned the drone on and it's not too terrible. It connects to the remote and I get the video, and I calibrated it using DJI Assistant which proves all six small cameras work. The USB and SD card ports work; I was able to update the firmware. However, the gimbal keeps going up and down in a loop, which makes me think the gimbal's motors might be damaged. Basically IMU initialization never ends. The drone also says it's getting the altitude forever which means maybe I unplugged the GPS module by mistake (I really don't think it was damaged, water never reached it), but it might also just be that it's some default message that is there until IMU initialization ends. Usually that's all, very rarely I got errors about the ESC or sensors which might hint at deeper issues, but it might be a software thing as I was updating the firmware etc.
Saltwater kills electronics and the corrosion continues long after the immersion.
DJI don't repair saltwater damage - because it's not possible.
 
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Rather than DJI, you may want to send it to a private Dealer/Repair place.
STC Electronics in NYC have an excellent repair department. And they will actually REPAIR your drone. Order the correct parts and fix it. Rather than toss it on a pile & send you a refurb.

I bought my first P3P from them and have sent 2 P3Ps and my P-4P v2 after crashes or mishaps.
One of the P3Ps fell in a lagoon and I had to jump in & find it. Tried to dry it out myself, but didn't work.
Sent to them and they fixed it.

Here is the Repair dept. - camrise
 
Saltwater kills electronics and the corrosion continues long after the immersion.
DJI don't repair saltwater damage - because it's not possible.

They don't but will they exchange your drone with a refurbished unit for a few hundred, like they seem to do when it's too much effort to repair your unit? That's more my question.
 

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