Moto Z Battery Replacement

Written By: Arthur Shi

Comments: 37

Difficulty

Difficult

Steps

Time Required

50 minutes - 2 hours

Introduction

This guide shows how to open the Motorola Moto Z in order to replace an old or dead battery.

The display assembly is extremely fragile and has no reinforcement. There is a significant chance that you may break the screen. Work slowly and methodically when handling the display assembly.

Before you begin, discharge your battery below 25%. A charged lithium-ion battery can catch fire and/or explode if accidentally punctured.

If your battery is swollen, take appropriate precautions.

Tools

Parts

Motorola Moto Z Replacement Battery

Step 1

Heat an iOpener and apply it to the left edge of the phone for at least 90 seconds.
A hair dryer, heat gun, or hot plate may also be used, but be careful not to overheat the phone—the OLED display and internal battery are both susceptible to heat damage.
As you're waiting for the adhesive to soften, move on and read the following step to get an idea of where to pry.

Step 2

In the following steps you will be cutting through the adhesive around the edge of the display assembly.
To avoid damage, do not cut in the following areas:
The OLED panel
The home button
The flash unit

Step 3

Apply a suction cup as close to the heated edge as possible.
Lift on the suction cup and insert the tip of an opening pick into the gap.
Do not insert the pick more than 1/16" (1.5 mm). Over-inserting the pick may damage the OLED panel.

Step 4

Carefully slide the tip of the opening pick down and up the side of the phone, making sure not to cut deeper than 1/16" (1.5 mm).
As you run the pick along the side, you will feel the tip of the pick press against the edge of the OLED panel. That is as far as the pick should go without damaging the panel.
Once you have separated the adhesive, leave an opening pick in the side to keep the adhesive from resealing.

Step 5

Repeat the heating, lifting, and cutting steps for the remaining long edge of the phone.

Step 6

Apply a heated iOpener to the top edge of the phone for at least 90 seconds.

Step 7

Insert an opening pick into the flash side corner of the phone and carefully slice around the flash unit.
Do not insert the pick more than 1/16" (1.5 mm) into the edge.
Once you are done cutting, leave the pick in the corner to prevent the adhesive from resealing.

Step 8

Insert an opening pick into the remaining top corner of the phone.
Carefully slice through the adhesive across the top of the phone.
Do not insert the pick beyond 1/2" (12.5 mm).

Step 9

Apply a heated iOpener to the bottom edge of the phone for at least 90 seconds.

Step 10

Insert an opening pick into a bottom corner and slice towards the home button, stopping before you reach it.
Once you're done with the corner, leave a pick in place to prevent the adhesive from sealing.
Repeat the process for the other bottom corner.

Step 11

Carefully twist the first opening pick slightly to help release the edge adhesive.
Repeat the same process for each remaining pick, moving them as necessary and twisting slightly to release the adhesive.

Step 12

Lift the earpiece end of the display up to provide access to the display cables.
Do not open the display beyond 90 degrees, and always support the display panel.

It says lift home button end of display but the photo shows lifting the earpiece end.

Lynne Ayers - 01/09/18

Good catch! I have fixed the step.

Arthur Shi - 02/09/18

When I finally got mine opened, all I see is a white piece of metal. Nothing like you photo…UhOH…

Diana Myera - 29/05/20

Oh no! It sounds like a different model! Motorola phones are notorious for their similar sounding naming conventions.

Arthur Shi - 29/05/20

Step 13

Use the point of a spudger to pry the display cable shield up.
Remove the display cable shield.

Step 14

Use the point of the spudger to lift and disconnect the display cable connector from its socket.

Step 15

Remove the display assembly.
Compare your new replacement part to the original part. You may need to transfer remaining components (such as the flash lens) or remove adhesive backings from the new part before installing.
Before you reinstall the display assembly, thoroughly remove any remaining adhesive and glass from the frame.
After removing all traces of glue and glass from the frame, clean the adhesion areas with 90% (or higher) isopropyl alcohol and a lint-free cloth or coffee filter.
Be sure to turn on your phone and test your repair before installing new adhesive and resealing the phone.
Use the Motorola Moto Z display adhesive to reseal your phone. Follow this guide for instructions on how to apply adhesive to the replacement screen.

By removing the traces of glue from the frame, you will also remove the protective covers of the microphone and whatnot at the home button side,, as well as the speaker cover at the other side, because the glue does its duty…

dr_baeschtlr - 30/05/20

Step 16

Use tweezers to peel the black tape securing the battery to the frame.
If your replacement battery did not come with this piece of tape, transfer it from the old battery to the replacement battery.

Well. ithis is multilayer tape - at least three *very* thin layers. Expect ugly results, if any.

dr_baeschtlr - 30/05/20

Step 17

Lay a heated iOpener on the back of the phone as shown for as least 90 seconds.

Step 18

Using a pair of tweezers or your fingers, grab the black battery pull tab and slowly pull it upwards until the corner is loose.
Do not fully remove the battery as it is still connected by a flex cable.

Step 19

Follow this step only if your battery tab has broken. Otherwise, skip to the next step.
Insert a spudger into the bottom edge of the battery and slowly pry the corner up.

Step 20

Carefully swing the battery towards the right edge.
Lay the battery flat against the work surface while taking care not to strain the battery cable.

Step 21

Use the point of a spudger to pry up the battery connector bracket.
The bracket is held in place by some adhesive and tabs.
Remove the battery connector bracket.
When you reinstall the bracket, make sure to align the tabs on the bracket with the indents on the left edge of the frame.

Step 22

Using the point of a spudger, pry up the battery connector from its socket.

Step 23

Remove the battery.
Do not reuse the battery after it has been removed, as doing so is a potential safety hazard. Replace it with a new battery.
To install a new battery:
Remove any remaining adhesive from the phone, and clean the glued areas with isopropyl alcohol and a lint-free cloth.
Apply pre-cut adhesive strips or double-sided tape to the exposed, silver part of the battery compartment, not on the black foam layer.
Press the battery firmly into place for 5-10 seconds.

Really need to include how to apply the adhesive for this device, I had to go find a video on youtube which happened to be an iphone 6 video that gave me an idea on what to do, but even then, it was still guess work.

Andrew Scorgie - 11/08/19

Check out the link to the adhesive card guide in the last step—that should you a pretty good idea of how to prep the phone and battery for installation and how to use our pre-cut adhesive card and apply the adhesive. Let us know if we can change something to make it easier to use!

Adam O'Camb - 12/08/19

Only just noticing the reply now since I am redoing the adhesive on a second Moto Z I have (screen adhesive failed on its own) and while that guide is pretty good (and something I may well use now on the original one if it fails again!), I was more thinking about how to apply the display adhesive that comes within the kit. There were no instructions on how to use that.

Andrew Scorgie - 16/09/20

Hi Andrew,

Here’s a guide you can use as a guideline! Hope that helps!

Arthur Shi - 17/09/20

Conclusion

Compare your new replacement part to the original part. You may need to transfer remaining components or remove adhesive backings from the new part before installing.

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

After completing this guide, calibrate your newly-installed battery.

Take your e-waste to an R2 or e-Stewards certified recycler.

Repair didn’t go as planned? Check out our Motorola Moto Z Answers community for troubleshooting help.

Author

Arthur Shi

Member since: 03/01/18

218115 Reputation

27 comments

Kindly link me to the suitable adhesive tape for sticking back the screen…

Thank you

Anwesh Maile - 23/07/18

Hi Anwesh,

You can use Tesa tape for that purpose.

Arthur Shi - 26/07/18

I have a Moto Z Droid from Verizon. You have instruction for the Moto Z and Moto Z Droid Force. Battery replacement on the Droid Force is much easier. How do I know which one I have?

Budbradley - 05/09/18

Hi Budbradley,

According to Phonearena, it looks like one easy way to tell is the rear camera:

The Z has a 13MP camera, while the Z Force Droid has a 21MP rear camera.

The built-in internal storage are also different:

The Z has 32GB while the Z Force Droid has 64GB.

Hopefully you can check your specs with those and figure out which version you have.

Arthur Shi - 05/09/18

The hardest step in this guide is when you remove adhesive glue behind the LCD panel.

Second is clean residue glue [For this i use lint-free cloth soak with alcohol and rub on glue]

One more note - Moto original battery is su..k. Mine is degrade in 6 moths.

Rawin Juangrat - 03/12/18

The hardest part about this repair was definitely removing the screen ( the rest is easy once you’ve opened the phone). I believe I would not have ruined my screen had I used a heat gun rather than the iOpener provided in the kit. The iOpener did not properly heat the adhesive and caused me to have to pry a little harder than I would have had to if I used a heat gun. That little extra force causes a big difference when the screen is so thin. On this particular repair, save yourself the money and don’t buy the whole kit. Buy the battery somewhere cheap and use a heat gun like I should have. Paying the extra money for the kit also cost me the price of a new screen $100+… not a happy camper.

Gabriel Arthur - 04/12/18

The hardest part for me is sourcing a battery that is the right thickness for an xt1650-03!

I am on the 3rd different gv30 manufacturer/ brand --on 2 different xt…-03 and they're all too thick. My last hope was a “Cam…Sin…” brand that was 3.3mm thick. Noooooope; that still didn’t work!

Please help!

P.S. the heatgun did make the prying WAY easier (especially if you drop the extra repair money on some suction-cup-pliers) —BUT— if you heat it too long (or even graze the inside of the semi-opened phone), you seriously risk “scorching" the screen, wilting the speaker diaphram, and/ or the mic screens.

…like i did the first time.

SNfoil_hat_king - 05/02/19

I have the exact smae problem. On my battery, it says it is an original Motorola Part. So did the seller on eBay. Model-Number and Code are exactly the same, so is capacity. Still, the new battery is to think and has a slighlty different design. This is really annoying, the phone works again, but I cannot glue it back together.

Benjamin Geese - 06/03/19

Can you check if your original battery is actually thinner than 3.3 mm? If so, I’ll need to look into the guide to see if something needs to be fixed.

Arthur Shi - 07/03/19

I have to change the battery of my xt1650-03, too. All sellers on a|_iexpress have negative comments from at least one or more buyers complaining that the battery is a few mm too thick. How can I find the right one?

This phone starts to annoy me so bad… it dies at 60 ish percent when drawing too much power…

Martin Hammer - 10/05/19

You can order a battery from iFixit here. We actually sell OEM Motorola parts, and this would be an OEM battery. If it doesn’t work out, we have great customer service! Plus, I would be interested to hear if the OEM battery is for some reason non-compatible.

Arthur Shi - 10/05/19

I followed the instruction, and I could replace the battery, but no image is shown on the screen. When I push the power switch, the mobile vibrates, so I think battery is Okay. Did I damage the screen when I remove the screen from my mobile?

Takeo Otani - 21/04/19

The screen was connected to the mobile but not glued with adhesive tape yet. Is that the reason why?

Takeo Otani - 22/04/19

Hi Takeo,

The screen does not need to be glued in before you test the phone. I would suggest checking the display connector, re-connecting it to see if that helps. Otherwise, it may be a broken screen.

Arthur Shi - 22/04/19

Thank you very much for your reply. I re-connected the screen three times, but there’s no change, no image is shown on the screen. I followed the instruction, but I may have applied strong force to the screen when I remove it from the mobile? It was really hard to remove the screen because the heater does not heat the mobile to soften the glue. I will replace the screen and see the result.

Takeo Otani - 23/04/19

I replaced old screen with new one, put the connector and turn on the switch without installing home button, but that does not work, no image is shown on the screen. I removed the battery and re-installed it, check all the connectors & wires, and I could not find any problem. What is the cause of the problem? mother board has been broken?

Takeo Otani - 29/04/19

Hi!

Did you find out what was the problem?

neven nevenković - 20/05/19

The problem my moto Z had in the past is, battery charge immediately decreased from more than 80% to 0% when I started an app. I thought this problem was related to the battery, but it was not?

Takeo Otani - 29/04/19

Saludos desde México no carga mi moto z y no es el centro de carga la pila está bien

Joseluis - 15/06/19

Hi, I’ve replaced the battery as instructed above. The batteries match. Phone will turn on, but not the screen. I’ve removed and reattached it several times but nothing shows on the screen. It worked fine prior to replacing the battery.

Jason

dr.jay - 09/09/19

Hi Jason,

Sorry to hear that! Here are some general troubleshooting ideas that may resolve the issue.

Arthur Shi - 09/09/19

Yeah, this repair *is* difficult. I broke the LCD (not the gorilla glas) and ripped the cables. The glue really is strong! So why does the Moto Z have an Ifixit score of 7? Even removing those small plastic and metal clips is hard as you don’t find which is the recommended way of removal.

JPT - 10/09/19

My moto Z had same symptoms as Takeo Otani’s. Never over-used it, kept it cool, no drops, no scratches, clean USB port.

I am also convinced, bad battery was the problem: phone indicated a full charge after just 20 mins of charging. battery life just ~2 h in standby. Energy-intensive apps like camera, let phone re-boot. After rebooting a fully charged phone (over night), it was <30% charged.

MY BATTERY REPLACEMENT ATTEMPT TODAY BROKE THE DISPLAY, ALTHOUGH, I WAS EXTREMELY CAREFUL with plektra tools, hair dryer and suction pad, even dipped tools in isoprop, which helped a bit to “cut” the glue threads.

Half way of removal (>1 h), noticed a little thin crack (in the back-layer, from bottom-right corner to 2 cm above moto logo)

Took another 1 h, until front was removed.

Last switch-on try: VIBRATES, but SCREEN is DARK -> VIBRATE reboot loop. Dis/Re-connected display twice. no change.

MOTO Z NOT SERVICE-FRIENDLY AT ALL!

Not tried new battery! Will not buy new display nor moto!

BE MOST CAREFUL WITH BOTTOM 4 cm REMOVAL!

Oliver Sternekoster - 15/09/19

This was a complete disaster. I was so careful, took tons of time with it. But near the bottom, as many have stated, the screen cracked a hairline crack and separated from the glass. This is more than difficult, because it requires some kind of finesse in some specific way that you can’t explain on this site or even a video. Following instructions exactly and being beyond careful does not give one the knowledge or finesse to do this repair successfully. I ordered a new screen and I hope that the battery I put in works. There’s no way to know until I get the new screen, and then hope that there isn’t something else wrong that happened in some specific way with the connectors or cables or electrical contacts in there. Disaster. And the tools are subpar too. Broke the smudger tip trying to pry off the bracket. Bent the tweezers too.

Daniyal Kazi - 30/07/20

I’m sorry to hear about your experience! The screen is unfortunately heavily glued onto the phone, making repairs difficult. As for the bent spudgers and tweezers, please contact our customer support and we’ll get it sorted for you!

Arthur Shi - 01/08/20

Exactly what I was afraid of happened. I installed the new screen and it’s not working. I just get a black screen. After plugging into a charger for several minutes, holding down the power button and hearing vibrations, I determine that the phone must be on. But screen is just black. No damage was done to this screen. It was brand new and I put it in. But something somewhere went wrong. How could I know what that was going to be? Is something not plugged in right? Did it get “fried” like someone said in another post?

Unless there’s an easy fix for what’s going on that I can try, this entire attempt to fix has been a complete disaster.

I do not have time to wait for another screen, nor do I want to pay for another screen that could just as easily not work either after I try to put it in.

Daniyal Kazi - 04/08/20

I understand your frustration! Thanks for bravely giving this difficult repair a chance. You may be able to test the display this way: leave the battery out, carefully reconnect the display to the phone, and plug the charging cable into the phone. Then, try to power on the phone. If the phone vibrates and the display does not light up, then either the display or something on the motherboard is bad. Again, I’m really sorry for the bad repair experience.

Arthur Shi - 05/08/20