iMac G4 Fan replacement

[AndiS]

Today I scored this 800 Mhz first generation iMac G4. It's in a nice shape but very dirty inside. So I went on to clean it thoroughly - and broke one of the fan blades.

This has never happened to me before, but in my defence - I had to clean it hard. Well any hints on how to get a fan replacement. If I have to, I'd go for a non-white one but that would be visible (mostly to me). Has anyone replaced this fan before and some hints for me?

 

[Nixontheknight]

Today I scored this 800 Mhz first generation iMac G4. It's in a nice shape but very dirty inside. So I went on to clean it thoroughly - and broke one of the fan blades.

This has never happened to me before, but in my defence - I had to clean it hard. Well any hints on how to get a fan replacement. If I have to, I'd go for a non-white one but that would be visible (mostly to me). Has anyone replaced this fan before and some hints for me?

View attachment 57739

I haven't replaced fans, but I have an 800MHz trash-picked iMac G4 you can swap your logic board into

 

[AndiS]

Well after some sleep and getting over the initial shock, I ordered a 92 mm quiet 12v case Fan and will try to carefully spray-paint it white. I'll report about success or failures...

I haven't replaced fans, but I have an 800MHz trash-picked iMac G4 you can swap your logic board into

Well, I suppose your're not in Europe so that ist not really a viable option, but thanks for the suggestion anyway!

 

[rikerjoe]

Yes, this is very familiar. While cleaning the inside of my iMac G4, I also broke one of the fan blades. I did an online search and found a replacement fan. No problem with replacement, and the iMac G4 is purring nicely. This was several years ago and unfortunately I don’t have a link to share on the replacement fan. It looks like you have one on order, so hopefully my comment here gives you confidence that the replacement is quite doable. Good luck!

 

[AndiS]

It must be that the white fans lead to more rigorous cleaning because the dirt is more visible.

I had the fan out already when I broke it, so replacement should be straightforward. Still I was quite disappointed. There I had the perfectly functioning nice newly acquired Mac, and then this happened. Even if only I would recognize it, putting a black fan in there would feel wrong - thus the plan to spray-paint it.

I was even considering getting a casemodding RGB fan, but then again, just no ;-)

 

[AndiS]

Sucess - luckily Apple sometimes did use standard parts in the past. I got a quiet fan and spray-painted it white very carefully so that the paint would not make it imbalanced.

The iMac is now working again and even quieter as before. Images to show the new fan before and after painting and swapping the connector. It is more white than the cleaned but still dusty original!