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Apple Time Capsule Model A1302 Fan Replacement

What you need

  1. Apple Time Capsule Model A1302 Fan Replacement, Remove the rubber base: step 1, image 1 of 2 Apple Time Capsule Model A1302 Fan Replacement, Remove the rubber base: step 1, image 2 of 2
    • Place a piece of cloth or a similar soft material on a clean, flat surface. Place the device upside down on top of the fabric.

    • Open the Time Capsule by exposing the screws that hold the device together. The screws are concealed by the rubber base, which is the bottom surface of the device.

    • Use a heat gun or hair dryer to heat the rubber base, which softens the adhesive holding it on.

    • Starting in a corner, carefully lift the rubber base to prevent tearing. You can use a guitar pick or a small, plastic ruler to help separate the rubber from the metal.

    • Take your time to prevent tearing the adhesive. Ensure that you don't overheat the device.

    • If you tear some of the adhesive, don't worry. The existing adhesive is more than enough to allow the rubber base to stick back onto the unit during reassembly.

    • During reassembly, you can apply heat to the rubber base. This will enable the adhesive to flow and form a better bond with the device's metal casing.

    Slowly start peeling at one corner... worked better than shown on the pictures.

    Markus - Reply

    Slow down particularly near the bottom label where it is stiffer. Either that or I needed to give it more heat. Going too fast can risk tearing the rubber base if the adhesive is strong.

    ElvinC - Reply

    If you are wondering if the Time Capsule will still work as a router if you remove the HDD and leave it out, the answer (according to another webpage I read) is YES, it will still work. Apparently, you get a warning with the AIrPort Utility about a missing HDD, but it still works. I wanted to keep and reuse the 1TB Hitachi HDD for offsite data backup.

    CraigH - Reply

    Use an iron instead of a heating gun or hairdryer!

    Gradually raise the temperature while checking for separation, while moving over the rubber. I first cleaned the rubber with some soap, to avoid scorching dust or grease. The setting for synthetic fabrics seemed to do the job with my Tefal iron; probably a little over 100 degrees centigrade. No steam off course!

    Worked like a charm without leaving almost any residual glue.

    Sticking the rubber sole back after the repair was also successful.

    Frits de Bruijn - Reply

    Thanks for sharing this.

    kenatkenichikato - Reply

    Adhesive tape used is Nitto No. 5015. I found a piece of a back-paper left underneath the rubber…

    vesa - Reply

    Is there a possibility to change an already changed 2TB SATA to a bigger one? Mine is full. because I added another MacBook Pro, but I’d rather not buy a newer TimeCapsule

    Bette Rose - Reply

    I have a heater plate from my beer fermenting days. Sat the router on this rubber side down for an hour or so and the rubber came off easily and cleanly. A pet bed heater may work just as nicely.

    publiclee - Reply

  2. Apple Time Capsule Model A1302 Fan Replacement, Remove the screws: step 2, image 1 of 2 Apple Time Capsule Model A1302 Fan Replacement, Remove the screws: step 2, image 2 of 2
    • Once the rubber base is separated from the device, remove the 8 Phillips PH00 screws that attach the metal bottom of the case to the plastic top of the case.

    • Use the Philiips #00 Screwdriver.

    • Some revisions of the Time Capsule have 10 screws. The A1254 revision has two screws in the upper right and lower left corners, as shown in the second image. In this situation, be sure to remove all 10 screws.

    Confirmimg 10 screws for Model A1355

    pkeenan8 - Reply

    Larger screwdriver size can help with sticky screws.

    ElvinC - Reply

    One of my screws was already stripped by Apple, so I had to drill it out.

    CraigH - Reply

    Instead of removing the rubber floor, I cut windows in the rubber base at the designated places and dug them out. To do this, I had rectified the photo and printed it out as a square with an edge length of 19.8 cm and used it as a stencil.

    Statt den Gummiboden zu entfernen, habe ich an den bezeichneten Stellen Fenster in die Gummiplatte geschnitten und ausgehoben. Dazu hatte ich das Foto entzerrt und als Quadrat mit der Kantenlänge 19,8 cm ausgedruckt und als Schablone benutzt.

    Markus Kluft - Reply

  3. Apple Time Capsule Model A1302 Fan Replacement, Open the Time Capsule: step 3, image 1 of 2 Apple Time Capsule Model A1302 Fan Replacement, Open the Time Capsule: step 3, image 2 of 2
    • Position the rear side of the device (the side with Ethernet connectors) so that it is facing you.

    • Lift up the left side of the metal plate and slowly flip it over the right edge of the device.

    • To prevent damage, do not lift the metal plate straight up or use force. As shown in the second picture, the fan is attached to the metal plate and connected to the logic board next to the power connector.

    • Since many people have had serious problems with the fan power connnector breaking, it is advisable to NOT try to disconnect the fan power connector. Be VERY careful with this connector. It is extremely fragile. If you absolutely have to disconnect the fan from the logic board, VERY carefully use a spudger or tweezers to do so.

    It is really not necessary to disconnect the fan and you risk breaking it off of the logic board. :(

    rdemby - Reply

    I'd destroyed the connection between my fan and logic board by trying to remove the fan. This is a bigger problem than a broken hard drive. DO NOT TRY TO DISCONNECT THE FAN. Instead be careful with the base (making sure not to stretch the fan wire) as your proceed to step four.

    redmonton11 - Reply

    I wish I had read the comments too!! DO NOT try to disconnect the fan!!!! The connector broke off with out a lot of force. Now I have a worthless piece of metal and plastic!!!!

    mightyquinn6362 - Reply

    This is not my guide, but in order to try to prevent future damage, I've edited the guide to warn against disconnecting the fan from the logic board. Hopefully the update will be approved soon :0\

    Jeff G -

    Replaced 2 x 1500 uF capacitors ant the Time capsule is back to work !

    Thanks for this guide.

    gilberto - Reply

    I had no issues removing the fan plug from the board.

    angelopadilla - Reply

    I used a block to lean the cover on so it didn't fall completely flat on the surface. The wire connecting the fan is too short for that.

    pkeenan8 - Reply

    It seems to me that the fan on the lid is not installed correctly. The air intake is blocked by a lid. The exhaust rests against the hard drive. It is more logical to turn the fan over, then the air intake will open, and the air flow will be along the components of the motherboard

    Вячеслав Ефименко - Reply

  4. Apple Time Capsule Model A1302 Fan Replacement, Fan: step 4, image 1 of 3 Apple Time Capsule Model A1302 Fan Replacement, Fan: step 4, image 2 of 3 Apple Time Capsule Model A1302 Fan Replacement, Fan: step 4, image 3 of 3
    • These three plastic plugs hold the fan in place.

    • Use a plastic spudger or similar and press the plugs through the case to release the fan.

  5. Apple Time Capsule Model A1302 Fan Replacement: step 5, image 1 of 2 Apple Time Capsule Model A1302 Fan Replacement: step 5, image 2 of 2
    • To re-seat your fan use a spudger or similar to force the plastic plugs back in the way they came out. This can be fiddly, but after a few tries you master it.

    • If you are replacing your fan, make sure that the plastic plugs are included. Or be prepared to re-seat your fan using an alternative method like double sided tape or nuts and bolts.

Conclusion

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

16 other people completed this guide.

rousp

Member since: 02/18/10

6,653 Reputation

4 Guides authored

4 Comments

would it be possible to remove the fan, or at least replace it with something quieter?

Tom Wiltshire - Reply

quieter maybe and adaptation now aa days can be possible, in the ballbearing ceramic espect is one , probably there are other ways to deal whit it…..because I think I know WHEN exectly you get irritated by that sound…..man, if I told you that Apple did all and much more bad decision according to the needs and capabilitys of the all equipment, there is why I &&^&^$^ angry about it, becuase when you get opened you will see the devil is in the details again…..lifatime determinied by this normal but fully controllable prooblem to resolev in name of there customers

Maurus -

there are significant emprovemtnes possible to the air flow doesn't acpmplish it mission that is RIP my product , I have done all changes I found since reoreantaded de cooler inlet outlet work as exemple , I'll try to bring this to here because these apple Timecapsluse were desing to fail due to overheat along the time, there are meny cases, incluisice at that time there was a page were you put the date that your time capsule were dead…

Maurus - Reply

I did change my fan according to this solution as it became louder every day.

Getting the fan was a bit of a search - I finally found and ordered it directly from an online shop in China.

When changing the fan the rubbers holding it are quite something to handle - you need a lot of tamper to make that happen.

Being very careful regarding the connector and it’s socket at least to me there was no difference to other connectors compared to eg. a 2013 iMac where I just changed the HDD and the RAM.

So if you are careful and don’t use at lot of force the connector shouldn’t be a problem.

I didn’t have to use a heat gun, the heat the old hard drive of my TC (which I also changed) was quite enough to peel the bottom layer of.

Thanks for this guide!

Florian - Reply

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