Pixel 3 - Replacing the screen

Switch off the device before the repair.

1. Press and hold the standby button until "Power off" appears.
2. Tap again to confirm and wait till the device has shut down.

To loosen the glued back cover, use a heat gun or an ordinary hair dryer. Warm glue is easier to loosen, allowing you to remove the back cover. The easiest way to loosen the back cover is to use a flat and flexible tool such as the iPlastix or iFlex. You will also need several picks to unstick the back cover all around.

1. Heat the spot where you start and place a suction cup on the bottom of the back cover.
2. Press a flat tool between the back cover and the frame and pull on the suction cup.

The iPlastix is made of plastic, so it won't scratch the device. On the other hand, it's very soft and tricky to insert.

Be extra careful, the back cover can break very easily. If necessary, apply the heat several times and try again. Removing the back cover might take half an hour. Take a little more time and work carefully to make sure you don't break anything.

1. Once the tool is inserted, stick a pick into the gap to keep it open. Then run the tool around the entire edge to gradually loosen the glue.
2. Then heat the next part and insert the picks one by one.
3. Once the back cover is loosened, lift it very slightly. The fingerprint sensor underneath the camera is still connected with a cable.

• 2 × 4,1 mm Phillips
• Fingerprint Connector

The fingerprint sensor connector is secured with a black plastic cover.

1. Loosen the two Phillips screws on the cover. Use a proper PH00 screwdriver (cross recess).
2. Remove the cover which is hooked under.
3. Separate the contact carefully with a plastic spudger.

Always lever from a side where there are no components on the motherboard. This will prevent damage. Be careful not to damage the socket on the board or the plug.

1. Finally you can put the backcover aside.

• 2 × 1,9 mm Phillips
• 2 × 4,0 mm Phillips
• 1 × 4,2 mm Phillips

The battery contact and many other contacts are located under a plastic frame. The charging coil for wireless charging is also attached to this frame.

1. Loosen the screws with different lengths of the middle frame.

Note the position of the screws so that you do not mix them up when reinserting them. The iDoc magnet mat is particularly suitable for storing screws and other small metal parts safely during repairs.

1. When all screws are loosened, you can remove the frame together with the coil.

• Battery Connector

1. Now the battery connector is free.
2. To avoid short circuits during the repair, disconnect the battery.

• External Buttons Connector

1. First disconnect the connector of the control buttons from the main board. The flex cable of the keys runs over the battery and could otherwise be damaged when levering.

The battery in the Pixel 3 is not as strong glued as in other smartphones. There are tabs on the left side to remove the adhesive strips (image 3) under the battery.

To make sure that the battery will stick to the new display again, we recommend not pulling out the adhesive strips in this case, but carefully levering out the battery together with the adhesive.

1. First, loosen the dark grey foil that is glued to the battery and the main board. The foil tears very easily, but that's not too important.
2. Then lever the battery with a wide plastic tool at the lower and left side to lift it.

Be careful not to bend the battery or damage the wrapper. You can heat the glue to make it easier to remove. However, never heat the battery directly, but heat the adhesive from below, i.e. from the side of the display.

1. If the battery can be lifted, use a tool to slide it under the battery to remove any adhesive.
2. Then remove the battery from the device and put it aside.

• 1 × 4,0 mm Phillips
• 1 × 3,8 mm Standoff
• Frontcamera Connector

The two front cameras are secured with a plastic cover and lightly glued to the inside of the display.

1. Loosen the two screws of the cover. One of the two screws is a so-called "stand-off" screw. The screw has an internal thread and a flat cross profile. You can loosen it with a thin slotted screwdriver or a screwdriver specially developed for this screw.
2. Remove the cover and carefully loosen the two connectors of the cameras with a spudger.
3. Carefully lever with a spudger at the side of a camera to loosen it a little. Then take out the camera and remove the second camera.

Remember which camera is where, so you can put it back correctly in the new display later.

• 1 × 1,9 mm Phillips
• 1 × 4,0 mm Phillips
• 1 × 4,0 mm Phillips (thinner)
• Speaker Connector

The speaker is fastened with several screws, connected to the mainboard and glued to the backside of the display.

1. First remove the different screws.
2. A small metal clip is fixed with a screw. Remember the orientation of the clip. The other two screws are the same length, but one of them has a thinner thread. Again, sort the screws on your magnet mat so that you don't confuse them when reinstalling them.
3. Carefully separate the loudspeaker contact with a spudger.
4. Lightly lever the speaker in several places until you can remove it.

• 1 × 4,0 mm Phillips
• 2 × 1,7 mm Phillips
• Connector
• Antenna connector

The charging port is secured again with several screws and is glued into the device.

1. Loosen all screws first. One of them holds a small black plastic piece. The other two screws lead into the frame.
2. Separate the contact of the charging port from the mainboard by slightly levering under the yellow cable.
3. Then loosen the black and blue antenna cable with the tweezers.
4. Use a spudger and tweezers to get under the flex cable in several places and gradually loosen the adhesive that holds the charging socket and the cable in the device.
5. Lever the charging port out of its opening in the frame and then remove the entire unit out of the device.

• 3 × 1,9 mm Phillips
• 2 × 4,2 mm Phillips
• 1 × 3,7 mm Standoff
• Connector

All further components are still connected to the main board.

1. Carefully loosen all connectors with a spudger. Always lever in places where there are no other components on the board.
2. Loosen the adhesive strips that secure the wide display connector.
3. Remove all screws. Several screws attach small metal clamps. Remember the alignment here again so that you can attach them correctly later.
4. Take out the plastic holder at the upper edge of the board.
5. Now the main board is free and you can remove it carefully. To do this, lever it up a little at one point and then lead it out of the device past all cables and connectors.

• 2 × 1,8 mm Phillips

1. Now remove the SIM card holder if it is still in the device.
2. Loosen the two screws that fix the SIM card reader in the device.
3. Lever the small golden microphone loose and remove the slightly glued card reader.

1. Use a flat tool to unglue the earpiece.
2. If your spare part comes with a new earpiece, you don't have to reuse the old earpiece.

1. The vibration motor is glued to the enclosure. Carefully detach the motor by inserting your tool between the enclosure and the motor.

Do not lever on the side with the golden contacts, as these can easily break off.

1. Now compare your replacement display with the old one. Depending on the spare part, you will have to reuse different brackets, rubber strips or flex cables.
2. If there's no glue on the earcup and speakers, you can also use thin, double-sided tape to reattach these components to the new display.
3. Also remove any protective film over the glued surfaces and front camera openings.
4. If your new display doesn't have any adhesive surfaces in this position, take over the adhesive for the earpiece as well.

1. Put the vibration motor back in its place and press it into place.

• 2 × 1,8 mm Phillips

1. Put the SIM card reader back in its place. Make sure it sits correctly and press it in.
2. Also push in the small golden microphone.
3. Screw the SIM card reader back in place with the two Phillips screws.
4. Reinsert the SIM card holder as well.

On the pictures you can already see the earcup. However, the earcup is not inserted until after the mainboard has been installed. The earpiece can be installed theoretically before, but this makes the insertion of the motherboard more difficult.

• 3 × 1,9 mm Phillips
• 2 × 4,2 mm Phillips
• 1 × 3,7 mm Standoff
• Connector

1. Put the motherboard back into the device. Bend all flex cables a little to the side so that you don't pinch them underneath.
2. When the motherboard is back in place, you can screw it in place. Make sure to use the correct screws. Don't forget to fasten the black plastic holder and the different metal clamps again.
3. At last reconnect the different connectors to the motherboard.

• Earpiece Connector

1. Now reinsert the earpieceand press it in.
2. Then connect the connector to the main board.

• 2 × 1,7 mm Phillips
• 1 × 4,0 mm Phillips
• Connector
• Antenna connector

1. Place the charging socket back in its position above the SIM card reader and press it down.
2. Screw the charging port back to the inner edge of the frame.
3. Replace the plastic cover and tighten the third screw.
4. Position the antenna cables with a pair of tweezers over their connector and press them tight with a spudger. Lead the cables back into their clamps.
5. Finally reconnect the charger connector to the main board.

• 1 × 1,9 mm Phillips
• 1 × 4,0 mm Phillips
• 1 × 4,0 mm Phillips (thinner)
• Speaker Connector

1. Place the loudspeaker in its position and press it firmly.
2. Then screw the speaker with the different screws. Make sure that one of the screws is as long as the other, but has a thinner thread.
3. The third screw on the lower left edge must also reattach the metal clamp. You can use a pair of tweezers to position the clamp more easily.
4. Finally reconnect the connector.

We used thin double-sided tape to glue the speaker back to the inside of the display.

• Frontcamera Connector
• 1 × 4,0 mm Phillips
• 1 × 3,8 mm Standoff

1. Put the two front cameras back in place. Make sure not to swap them.
2. Reconnect the two camera connectors to the motherboard.
3. Position the plastic cover and screw it back on.

• External Buttons Connector

1. Insert the battery into the enclosure.

Leave some space at all edges of the battery to other components and the frame so that the battery is not pinched in.

1. Press the battery firmly into the housing so that the adhesive can bond better.

If you have removed the adhesive strips when disassembling the battery, you can use thin double-sided tape to fix the battery back in place.Finally reconnect the contact of the volume buttons.

• Battery Connector

1. Connect the battery to the main board. Press the contact onto the connector of the motherboard until it clicks into place.

• 2 × 1,9 mm Phillips
• 2 × 4,0 mm Phillips
• 1 × 4,2 mm Phillips

1. Position the middle frame and fasten it with the Phillips screws of different lengths.

• Fingerprint Connector
• 2 × 4,1 mm Phillips

Before you attach the back cover, take a closer look at the glue on the edges. If it wrinkles in some places and is thicker, the backcover may not lie flat. Remove the glue at such places. You can also remove all adhesive and use a new adhesive frame. Usually there will be enough glue left on the backcover so that you can attach it to the frame.

1. Put the back cover in place and reconnect the fingerprint sensor.
2. Then put the plastic cover back on. It must be placed under the flex cable of the mid-frame.
3. Then reattach the two Phillips screws.

1. Before you finally close the device, you should test it.

Here in the picture you can see pixel 2, but this step works the same for pixel 3.

1. Turn on the device and test the screen.
2. Set the brightness to minimum and maximum.
   
3. Drag an app icon across the entire screen to make sure the touch works in all places.
   

1. Put the back cover back in its original position.

1. Press the back cover on all over so the glue will stick.

You can also heat your device with hot air and then clamp it or weight it down with a couple books so the glue will stick better.