Comments on: How to replace fan in IBM ThinkPad T43

By: michael egerton

michael egerton — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 12:23:52 +0000

I bought a small can of WD40, sprayed into each vent outlet very briefly for a fraction of a second with the long red WD40 extention adapter – problem solved with no more fan sound, and no more laptop shutting down after a few minutes due to the fan not working. I can now feel the hot air coming out the vents and the laptop is on continuously as bafore.

By: Don Thompson

Don Thompson — Sun, 28 Dec 2014 01:47:36 +0000

awesome instructions. I used these to pull the fan and these to disassemble and re-lubricate the fan. worked perfectly. i am not a techie and it worked!

By: IML Tech

IML Tech — Sun, 09 Mar 2014 18:19:48 +0000

In reply to Andreas. @ Andreas,

Also, my fan is probably not broken, I just want to clean it, so I also donâ€t want to damage the thermal pad using a knife.

Do not remove the heatsink! Find an air compressor or canned air. Blow off the fan and heatsink. It should be enough.

itâ€s stuck as if there was still something holding it together.

If you removed all screws, probably it's only the thermal grease holding the heatsink. Some time ago I was waring on a laptop wit similar problem. I couldn't remove the heatsink at all. Then I applied some force and.... separated the chip from the motherboard. Do not apply much force if you decide to remove the heatsink.

By: Andreas

Andreas — Sun, 09 Mar 2014 10:36:15 +0000

I just read that some other people apparently had the same problem that the heat sink wouldn’t come off. The proposed solution was to use a knife to get it off, but I’m afraid to damage the GPU by applying force to get it off. Also, my fan is probably not broken, I just want to clean it, so I also don’t want to damage the thermal pad using a knife.

Is there another, more elegant way to do this?

By: Andreas

Andreas — Sun, 09 Mar 2014 10:27:30 +0000

Hi,

I am trying to replace my fan, however, I am not stuck at step 11 (i.e. lifting the heat sink). It simply does not come off, as if it was stuck to the GPU. I was wondering if I maybe forgot one of the screws, but no, they’re all off.

I then thought that maybe the dried thermal paste was to blame, so I used a hairdryer to heat up the whole unit a little bit (this is how I normally remove coolers from CPUs if they’re stuck together) and then tried to lift it up – no luck, it’s stuck as if there was still something holding it together.

Can anyone give me some advice here please?

By: foxtrot-mike_fm

foxtrot-mike_fm — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 11:38:31 +0000

Thank you for these clear instructions & helpful diagrammes. I had just finished replacing my fan using some videos from YouTube when I found this site. However, the person demonstrating the procedure used a power-tool screwdriver which obscured the details (re. which screws to remove) & worked at a pace too rapid to follow. I found myself replaying sections of the video on VLC over & over again. Your instructions have clarity! I would recommend the following tip, something that I worked out in my endeavours: The screws on the T43 are numbered according to length which greatly facilitates replacing them in their correct positions. To doubly ensure that I got this right I made a map of the underside of my IBM on a piece of A3 paper marking the positions of the screws. I then stuck a blob of blutac next to each of these mapped screw positions & pressed each screw into the appropriate blutac blob as it was removed. This procedure has the double benefit of ensuring that no screws are lost in the procedure & that it is clear where they are to be returned. I am intending to ‘go back in’ & upgrade my machine’s RAM soon & these fan replacement instructions clearly map out where I need to go for that process. A further bonus! Finally, some of the screws from my ThinkPad are showing a little corrosion & I am thinking of putting a little spot of silicon grease on each screw as I return it after the RAM upgrade. Would that product be appropriate or would you suggest something else? Also, could you suggest a source for the heat sink grease for the CPU that you mentioned in this tutorial? Thanks again, fm.

By: CT

CT — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 22:42:36 +0000

This seems really complicated. Can someone please rate the difficulty 1-10, 10 being the highest before I start to unscrew everything to get access to the fan and fan# so I can order parts? Thanks.

By: Assasincz

Assasincz — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:17:26 +0000

Thanks for a great guide, It took some effort (the thermal pad was stuck to the graphics chip), but I have managed to remove the heatsing and regrease the cooling fan bearings with silicon oil. Additionally, I have applied new thermal grease on both CPU (the original dried out) and GPU (despite the thermal pad). The result? Under 100% load, the CPU’s temperature is now 13Â°C lower than originally. It is as quiet as new. I’m absolutely chuffed to bits.

By: Roy

Roy — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 01:44:01 +0000

I was hesitant to take this on but everything went perfectly. The only comment I’d add is that the three screws which hold the fan in place are spring loaded and should be removed very carefully or they may strip. I’ve read several recommendation from other sources as to how to go about removing them but I just very carefully backed them out; all in all …. great instructions, and no more noise!

By: Manel

Manel — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 08:26:24 +0000

Thanks por posting this thourough explanation. I did not change the fan, but I did remove it, cleaned it and used a lubricant to get my T43 back to life.