Laptop Noisy Fan Fix

                      How I Fixed My Old Noisy Laptop Fan

I had a Thinkpad T60 laptop running as a server and decided to re-purpose it as my media center PC. Then use my current media center PC(Desktop tower) as my server. So I accomplished this but ran into a problem, the fan was noisy, kind of like a grinding noise that would come and go frequently. I figured the bearing might be going so I knew I would have to replace the fan, So I decided to try to fix it first since the worse that could happen was I have to end up replacing the fan anyways.

So I went to work on it and took apart the laptop and got out the fan and heat sink part(its connected together). I cleaned all the dust out of the heat sink and fan, took the fan apart(propeller blade slides off the coil) and cleaned the entire thing with toothpick wrapped in paper towel, even the bearing.Lots of dirt came off. Now here's what I did once everything was clean; I put some Quaker Skate car oil in a bottle cap and using a toothpick dipped in the oil to rub on the fan moving assembly(shaft, bearing etc). I rubbed the toothpick(dipping in oil occasionally) on the fan shaft, round magnet, middle of the bearing, and using the toothpick dropped two small drops in the bearing itself so it would work its way into the bearing as it spun.

I let the oil sit for 30 min then I put everything back together and fixed the laptop back to the way it was and booted it. The laptop runs silently, way better than when it was new!!! Even when under heavy load and the speed kicks up, you can feel the hot air blowing out but the fan is much quieter and I suppose will last a while longer.

My only wish is I had some Slick 50, that might of been better, LOL. But I am happy with my results. On a side not do NOT use cooking oil, this type of oil is meant for cooking not lubricating. Also the reason I did not use sewing machine oil or any small size lubricating oil is because of viscosity. Sewing machine oil and oil for small machines are thinner and the Quaker skate is a thicker, meaning this fix would last longer and act more like a grease once it gets in the bearing rather than leak its way out.



***Now I don't recommend people try this, and take no responsibility for what you do. I wanted to share my experience and method for making things last a little longer.