The glass panel is fixed onto the front bezel with fourteen magnets around its perimeter.
Stick two suction cups to opposing corners of the glass panel.
To attach the suction cups we sell, first position the suction cup with the movable handle parallel to the face of the glass panel. While lightly holding the suction cup against the glass, raise the movable handle until it is parallel with the other handle.
If your suction cups refuse to stick, try cleaning both the glass panel and the suction cup with a mild solvent such as Windex.
Gently pull the glass panel straight up off the iMac.
The glass panel has several positioning pins around its perimeter. To avoid shearing these pins off the glass panel, be sure to only pull straight up during removal.
Be meticulous about cleaning the LCD and the inside face of the glass panel before reinstallation, as any fingerprints or dust trapped inside will be annoyingly visible when the display is on.
If necessary, remove the piece of foam tape covering the optical drive thermal sensor.
To remove the optical drive thermal sensor, use the tip of a spudger to lift the center finger of the thermal sensor bracket while applying slight tension to the thermal sensor cable.
If your thermal sensor is stuck to the optical drive, skip to the next step.
Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the optical drive thermal sensor bracket up off the adhesive securing it to the optical drive.
If the adhesive gets dirty or will not stick to your new optical drive, place some double-sided tape under the two semicircular ears of the thermal sensor bracket.
Do I assume correctly that this iMac model doesn't have two SATA ports on the logic board, so a dual 2.5" SSD/HDD drive could be installed in the 3.5" bay with an adapter/bracket? This way one could save the optical drive... Anyone?
All I have to say on this thread is: I can’t even begin to understand how this machine is still running as it is. When it was new, circa 2007-2008, a coffee-like beverage was knocked off a shelf above the iMac. It poured all the way through to the bottom. Even though it missed the power supply, it covered everything else INCLUDING the Superdrive. Which still ran but obviously the eye was permanently blind. Between the primary fan and heat dissipation block, there was about one square centimeter of partially obstructed airway. the rest was caked at about a 2-3mm depth. All of the black consolidating foam? Turned to dust at the slightest touch. This was initially going to be a part out on eBay journey. After all, to find a replacement 24” display would be legendarily unlikely. The way this machine was running… another day at the park. She’s clean and I’m keeping her.
AMAZING GUIDE… This was my first iMac teardown :-)