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Resolved Cracked Fan -> Quicksilver Chainsaw Massacre (of my ear drums)

tevion5

tevion5

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 12, 2011
1,967
1,603
Ireland
My 2002 Quicksilver has been working perfectly since I picked it up last October or so. Best PPC machine I've ever had the fun of toying with. However, tonight I reached around the back of the tower to insert a USB drive (PCI card with 2.0 ports. USB 1.1? Ain't nobody got time for that...). I was copying Mac OS 9.2.2 so I could install it onto an iBook G3 to play Railroad Tycoon 2 in fact.

But I order to to get back there, I lifted up the back handle gently while the Mac was running (this was probably my mistake?) and all of a sudden a new very loud grinding noise bellowed out of the system. Fearing the worst I unplugged it straight away and bit my lip. I let it cool before opening it up for inspection.

I found at first a bit of IDE cable plastic poking into a PSU fan. I though that must be it, tucked it in, and booted up. GRRRRRRRRR!!!!. OMG. Make it stop. Make it stop. For the love of all the earth. Make it stop.

I inspected it a second time, and discovered that the large fan below the PSU toward the back, was both too far up against the outer side of it's cage, and cracked slightly down a part of one blade.

I pushed it back into it's proper place and booted up again. All things bright and beautiful...for about half and hour. I opened it up yet again to find that the fan had moved back to being right up against the cage side, scratching up against it as it rotates. i.e. not where it should be. I have taken it out of service until this problem is resolved. Don't want to cause any further damage.

What do I do here? Can I fix it? Is that fan easily replaceable?

fan.jpg fanWA.JPG
 
Last edited:
No worries!!! It's called the case fan.

That's a standard 120mm PC fan. Just buy a new fan. I would take this opportunity to buy the highest CFM fan you can. I replaced mine with a Cooler Master 120mm fan rated at 95CFM.

You'll need to pull out the ZIP drive (if you have one) and the optical drive so you can get to the fan shield. The shield is what the fan is attached to and it's held there by the standard four screws.

Just replace the fan. You will probably have two options as far as connector. If the replacement comes with a Molex cable connect it to a spare Molex connector. Or, you can cut off the end of the cable from the old fan and the new fan and splice them together so you can continue to power the fan through the proprietary Apple connector.

Either way, you'll get the fan back in operation.

I've replaced all the fans in my case with higher CFM models and even drilled out a hole in the bottom of the case for an additional 120mm fan. My case fan was the first to get replaced.

No big deal.
 
OOOOOOOOh you got a rare case of broken fan! :eek: Can you record it? I wanna hear what it sounds like!

That fan is easily replaceable and fans like those are cheap.

I believe it is a 120mm fan but I don't know what connector it uses. You may need to do some soldering, though if you don't want to, you'd be just fine with wire nuts or crimp connectors. Just cut the cable of the old fan for the plug side and do the same for the new fan, and attach the old cable to the new fan so you can plug it in.

You can get the cheaper sleeve bearing ones with low speeds and CFM or you can get the more expensive one with ball bearings and higher speeds and CFM. Just use whatever you can find or already have.

I recommend looking in your local electronics store. Look in Fry's or Best buy; they have good prices on fans I think. Also you may have some RadioShacks closing nearby and you might find some fans at their liquidation sale.
(Edit: oh you are from Ireland... I don't know what you have there)

Or you can look on ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...m+fan.TRS0&_nkw=120mm+fan&ghostText=&_sacat=0


If you like you can get the clear LED lit fans :cool:

Look for fans with only two wires. 3 or 4 wire fans have those extra wires for the speed sensor but the Mercury Mac (Quicksilver) doesn't use that so I think it is a waste


Also please take some picture when you take it out, I wanna see that crack better! Awesome crack!

----------

Wow two replies while I was typing :rolleyes:
 
My first QS2002 had a crack in that fan in almost exactly the same place when I bought it.

The seller told me that it made an "awful racket" when turned on, and I quickly figured out why. If yours sounded like mine, it really does sound like the computer is about to self destruct!

In any case, the entire fan housing can be removed pretty easily(I don't remember exactly how, but it should be fairly self explanatory once look at it). The fan plugs into the PSU via a two wire connector-disconnect this.

Once the housing it out, remove the four screws you see from the front of the housing, and the fan will come out.

From this point, you have two options. The prudent and smartest course of action is to find a like replacement fan(I think it's 120mm, which is a common size) and install it.

In my case, it was 10:00 at night when I got into it, and wanted to get the computer going, so I did the not-as-prudent, but nothing to lose course of action. The crack made it very easy to remove the fan blade assembly from the rotor, so I did. I cleaned the entire fan blade thoroughly with alcohol.

I then saturated the crack in superglue, and put a rubber band around the blades as a clamp.

I think I let it cure about an hour(or maybe less, but definitely no more) and pressed the fan blade back onto the rotor. It was a much more secure fit. I then put the whole mess back together.

I'd intended that to be a temporary solution. I bought that QS last June, and it was on pretty much continuously from then until February of 2002. It's been on periodically since then, although not 24/7 as before. I've not heard another peep from the fan or seen any sign that my "temporary" repair was about to give way. That's with about 8 months of that fan pretty much continuously running.

So, there's my suggestion. In the worst case, track down a replacement of the same dimensions on Ebay, and splice the current connector onto it.
 
poiihy said:
Look in Fry's or Best buy; they have good prices on fans I think. Also you may have some RadioShacks closing nearby and you might find some fans at their liquidation sale.
Click to expand...
tevion5 lives in Ireland. Awful long way to go for Fry's, Best Buy or Radio Shack.

The method of stripping the wires, wrapping them together and applying electrical tape also works.
 
eyoungren said:
No worries!!! It's called the case fan.

That's a standard 120mm PC fan. Just buy a new fan. I would take this opportunity to buy the highest CFM fan you can. I replaced mine with a Cooler Master 120mm fan rated at 95CFM.

You'll need to pull out the ZIP drive (if you have one) and the optical drive so you can get to the fan shield. The shield is what the fan is attached to and it's held there by the standard four screws.

Just replace the fan. You will probably have two options as far as connector. If the replacement comes with a Molex cable connect it to a spare Molex connector. Or, you can cut off the end of the cable from the old fan and the new fan and splice them together so you can continue to power the fan through the proprietary Apple connector.

Either way, you'll get the fan back in operation.

I've replaced all the fans in my case with higher CFM models and even drilled out a hole in the bottom of the case for an additional 120mm fan. My case fan was the first to get replaced.

No big deal.
Click to expand...

Haha, such knowledge! :D That's good to hear at least, that it's a relatively trivial operation. I've disassembled a 2004 G5 once to each individual part. That was an incredible struggle. I feared fiddlyness to the same degree. Regular screws on the other hand are my favourite!

I'll have to hit the ebay and search for a replacement so. I must survive without it for a few days.

Thanks for the help!
 
Last edited:
eyoungren said:
tevion5 lives in Ireland. Awful long way to go for Fry's, Best Buy or Radio Shack.

The method of stripping the wires, wrapping them together and applying electrical tape also works.
Click to expand...

I know that I edited it before you replied

Speaking of Ireland... soon is St. Patricks Day!
 
tevion5 said:
Haha, such knowledge! :D That's good to hear at least, that it's a relatively trivial operation. I've disassembled a 2004 G5 once to each individual part. That was an incredible struggle. I feared fiddlyness to the same degree. Regular screws on the other hand are my favourite!

I'll have to hit the ebay and search for a replacement so. I must survive without it for a few days.

Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...
No problem!

You might also be interested in the other 120mm I use, the one in the bottom. That one is a bgears, 110CFM.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/20731448/

bgears also makes them in red and other colors, but those are different part numbers.

Here it is in the bottom of my case…
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/20727664/
 

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I've never seen an LED fan IRL, and they don't look good on cameras. I wonder what they look like IRL.
 
I have a cracked fan in one of my Quicksilvers. Supergluing the crack has not solved the problem as the crack reasserts itself after a few minutes.
 
Ordered a basic 120mm replacement fan from the UK. It uses the standard molex power connector for the disc drives, so I won't have to do any modification to cables.

Funny enough, the one photo on the iFixit Quicksilver tear down relating to the case fan is a broken link...

I figured it out anyway. Have it dissassembled now and I'll wait until have the new fan before I put it back together.

Thanks for all the advice!
 
Last edited:
weckart said:
I have a cracked fan in one of my Quicksilvers. Supergluing the crack has not solved the problem as the crack reasserts itself after a few minutes.
Click to expand...

I guess success is largely dependent on where and how bad the crack is.

As I said, mine lasted through 8 months of continuous use and is still going.

All of that said, replacing the fans with new ones is never a bad idea.
 
tevion5 said:
Ordered a basic 120mm replacement fan from the UK. It uses the standard molex power connector for the disc drives, so I won't have to do any modification to cables.

Funny enough, the one photo on the iFixit Quicksilver year down relating to the case fan is a broken link...

I figured it out anyway. Have it dissassembled now and I'll wait until have the new fan before I put it back together.

Thanks for all the advice!
Click to expand...
All in all, still a fairly easy process?
 
tevion5 said:
Ordered a basic 120mm replacement fan from the UK. It uses the standard molex power connector for the disc drives, so I won't have to do any modification to cables.

Funny enough, the one photo on the iFixit Quicksilver year down relating to the case fan is a broken link...

I figured it out anyway. Have it dissassembled now and I'll wait until have the new fan before I put it back together.

Thanks for all the advice!
Click to expand...

What fan did you get?
 
tevion5 said:
Oh just some cheap one from eBay. Nothing fancy. It's not my main machine, so I can't justify spending much on it.
Click to expand...

Oh I see

Can you give the link of the page? I'm curious of the specifications of that fan.
 
Also you're Irish right? Or just live there? Well Happy St Patricks Day.
 
poiihy said:
heh funny information there But it doesn't say much though. It doesn't say the CFM or speed...
Click to expand...
Yeah, for a computer like that, you need a pretty good fan. Apparently the original was 85 CFM, I don't that that fan does 85 CFM.
 
MisterKeeks said:
Yeah, for a computer like that, you need a pretty good fan. Apparently the original was 85 CFM, I don't that that fan does 85 CFM.
Click to expand...

What the... what happened to the
Screen_Shot_2015_03_17_at_1_18_30_PM.png
in my post in the quote? It turned into
Screen_Shot_2015_03_17_at_1_18_51_PM.png
.

That fan probably does around 30 or 40 CFM so you _might_ have some heat trouble but you'd probably be fine. The plus side is that this fan will be really quiet!
 
I remember checking eBay when my fan was playing up a few months back and there were reclaimed Quicksilver fans for sale - I think the best price was about £8 delivered but I still thought that was too much given that it was little less than I paid for the whole QS. I might dig out some epoxy when I next have time and try again.

I think these are two examples on sale right now

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sensflow-WFC1212B-120x120x25mm-12V-0-44A-Fan-Excellent-Condition-/161622867300 (UK vendor)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Apple-PowerMac-G4-Sensflow-Case-Fan-600-5914-WFC1212b-/200598531182 (US vendor)
 
weckart said:
I remember checking eBay when my fan was playing up a few months back and there were reclaimed Quicksilver fans for sale - I think the best price was about £8 delivered but I still thought that was too much given that it was little less than I paid for the whole QS. I might dig out some epoxy when I next have time and try again.

I think these are two examples on sale right now

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sensflow-WFC1212B-120x120x25mm-12V-0-44A-Fan-Excellent-Condition-/161622867300 (UK vendor)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Apple-PowerMac-G4-Sensflow-Case-Fan-600-5914-WFC1212b-/200598531182 (US vendor)
Click to expand...

Ohh it might be nice to have the original one alright...

Is it worth the £8.95?
 
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