Can the fan in an iMac (model 5,1 "Late 2006") be replaced? I have a 21" iMac model identifier imac5,1 (Late 2006). (It's the one with a 2.16 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo and a max of 4 GB RAM, 3 GB addressable. You know, the white LCD ones)

Starting this weekend after I cleaned it... probably too aggressively... by vacuuming the exhaust slits and air intakes, it is now making a grinding / whirring noise. I suspect is is the case exhaust fan.

The temperature in the iMac seems okay, but I don't push it very hard so I am not sure if it will eventually fail due to heat. I do know that the noise is very annoying. Either way I would like to solve the problem.

Can the fan in an iMac (Late 2006) be replaced? I'm fairly certain it's not user servicable, however I could try it if it's possible without requiring special tools / training. I'd also be happy to pay to have it replaced but I don't even know if this is a service that's available for a 5 year old machine...
I don't know about replacing the fan, but with XRG you can monitor your system's temperatures on screen.  smcFanControl lets you tweak your fan speeds; maybe you can use it to dislodge whatever's in there, before you try opening the box.