2.7 GHz PowerMac done in by leaking cooling system. THE REST OF THE STORY

Question

This is the story of what happened when my PowerMac went down for the count. I'm posting it because Apple did a such stellar job at resolving a thorny service problem.
I had a Dual 2.7 GHz PowerMac G5 (purchased back in November 2005) that was a major headache all this year. It quit working entirely in March after months of crashes, corrupted drives, and loudly spinning fans. As I was putting the Mac into a box to take it to the local Apple Store for troubleshooting, I noticed a small puddle of what turned out to be coolant. I'd heard the cooling systems on these Macs wasn't very reliable and costly to fix, so I figured it would have to be trashed. Sure enough, when I got to the Apple Store, it was still leaking and the Genius said it would cost upwards of $1000 to fix.
I wasn't happy to hear that, but what could i do? It was out of warranty.
I bought a new 27-inch iMac as a replacement and went back to work. While on the way, I started wondering if I could fix the Mac myself as a hobby project. At work, I posted a question on Apple's Discussions describing what had happened to the Mac and got these replies:
+You should have posted - and looked - on the PowerMac G5 forum, and read up on theG5 Coolant Leak report, and how to deal with it. So check out the Discussion and http://www.xlr8yourmac.com report on the issue (under Systems).+
+http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/G5coolantleaks.html+
and
+Read the xclr8yourmac link and call Apple Customer Service. They replace a lot of leakers with new MacPros if you say there is a fire or electrocution hazard. Read and learn.+
So I checked out the xlr8yourmac site and was shocked. I had no idea how much leaking had occurred, but after seeing photos of the damage to other Macs, the possibility of mine having caught fire while unattended gave me the willies because I'd been leaving my Mac running during the day so the Tools app could run thorough tests.
I called Apple support and told the rep how upset I was over a potential safety problem that was not mentioned on the Support website. He transferred me to Customer Relations where that rep made arrangements for me to get the Mac serviced.
I returned the iMac and gave them the G5 for repair. Two weeks later, I got the Mac back. They had replaced the rear exhaust fans and cable, the power supply, SuperDrive, 2.7 GHz multiprocessor, power supply cover, and the computer enclosure.
In short, they gave me back a resurrected G5 for no charge!
And that was a happy ending that lasted all of five months, during which the fans slowly increased in volume and CPU temps crept higher.
Last month everything went weird. The Mac would go to sleep in the middle of file transfers, sometimes it would hang on restart, and other faults. I called Apple Tech Support and set up a service appointment at the Apple Store.
A week later, I had shelled out $250 for a replacment video card (which seemed strange because video had been about the only thing that hadn't been malfunctioning!) and, fingers crossed, took the Mac home.
It ran worse after the service than before! Fans were screaming, it would crash at the Finder or hang after restart, often wouldn't recognize the Leopard DVD, etc. (But hey, at least video still worked!)
I was getting frustrated at this point, so I called Apple again and worked with a higher echelon tech who told me to reset the PMU switch. It seemed to work, the fans quieted and the machine restarted without hanging. But it seemed dog slow, so I checked Activity and found that one of the CPUs wasn't working.
Another call to Apple where the really helpful tech said it was probably a logic board (the one component that hadn't been replaced already!) and that I should take it in so they could determine if that was the problem. If it was, he would see about tying the repair to the previous service since it was likely that the logic board had been damaged by the coolant leak.
I took it in for repair last Saturday, keeping fingers crossed that this time they'd fix the machine. On Friday, I got a call from them saying that they had "stripped some screws" while performing the service, so the computer couldn't be reassembled. At first I was stunned by the news--now what?!
It got better: As compensation, they replaced my 5-year-old Dual 2.7 GHz PowerMac G5 with a brand new 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Mac Pro G5! Gotta hand it to Apple, they did what it took to resolve a maddening problem with one of their products in a way that left me feeling I'd been treated fairly.

Answer 1

Wow! Can't believe they'd give you a new machine on that 5 year old paper weight! Though it was a design flaw. Did you have Apple Care? Just wondering in case mine does it.
I've never had any trouble with my dual 2.5, bought it new in early '05 when the 2.7 came out. I've added memory and larger drives. I've had a problem with a dvd drive I put in it. It would not release the disc on the first eject, if it was a DVD. It's definitely the drive since I now have it in a different machine and it does the same problem. Now I have a Dual Layer burner from a 2.3 dual core.
Other problem I've had with it was a Radeon 9200 card I put in it to get a third display never worked right. I had ATI replace it at least twice and I think it's just a design flaw with the G5. It would stutter on the connected display, slow response time and if iTunes was running the sound would pop.
Removing the card fixed it so the card is back in the box. I'm guessing it would work fine in a G4. But yeah, all problems with 3rd party stuff.
Other than that, no cooling problems or anything else.
I did some speed tests between my 2.3 DC and the 2.5 and the 2.5 is noticeably faster. About a gigaflop. Faster memory on the 2.3 and graphics but slower processor and system bus.
I'm guessing the 4 fastest G5's are the Quad 2.5, then the Dual 2.7, Dual 2.5, then 2.3 DC.