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Fan replacement, is this ok?

S

stevearm

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 15, 2007
992
91
Hi all, I'm looking to replace the fan in my 13" MBP (2009 model), after using it for 5 years the fan is getting really loud and I would like to swap it out with a brand new one. My question is are these two models on eBay ok to purchase? I assume Apple branded ones don't exist, so I just wanted to check I could trust ones like these...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Apple...ther_Computing_Networking&hash=item3ce04aaa55

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MACBOOK-1...ther_Computing_Networking&hash=item2c6430740b

They seem quite cheap, that's why I'm hesitant...

Any advice appreciated :)
 
simsaladimbamba said:
Have you researched, why the fan is loud? Does it spin faster? Have you cleaned it?
Click to expand...

Playing a video on Youtube increases the rpm to 6000 and temperature to about 70 deg C.

I'm happy to just use compressed air to clean the fan, but I figured for £10 I might as well just buy a new one.
 
stevearm said:
Playing a video on Youtube increases the rpm to 6000 and temperature to about 70 deg C.

I'm happy to just use compressed air to clean the fan, but I figured for £10 I might as well just buy a new one.
Click to expand...

YouTube uses Flash, which is power hungry, thus more CPU is needed, more heat is generated and thus the fan spins faster.
Though 6.000 RPM at 70° C is quite much, 70° C should warrant 3.000 to 4.000 RPM fan speeds.
Maybe look into cleaning the fan and SMC Fan Control and also take a look at ClickToFlash or ClickToPlugin, as you can playback YouTube videos without Flash, though you are limited to 720p, which should be enough for the internal display anyway.
 
Thanks for your input much appreciated.

I'm happy to either clean the fan or just purchase a replacement, would like to know if the ones in my original post are suitable or if it wouldn't be a good idea to trust them.
 
Original Apple part number for your fan is 661-4946.

Either of your links should be a good replacement fan.

However, as simsaladimbamba hinted, you might be changing the fan, when it's simply trying to do its job - just running faster than you remember because your MBPro is getting old, and particularly the heat sink joint may need to be redone, and is no longer providing efficient cooling for the CPU (and the fan is forced to run too hard). That's a task that MIGHT give you back your quiet laptop, even if you don't replace the fan.
 
DeltaMac said:
Original Apple part number for your fan is 661-4946.

Either of your links should be a good replacement fan.

However, as simsaladimbamba hinted, you might be changing the fan, when it's simply trying to do its job - just running faster than you remember because your MBPro is getting old, and particularly the heat sink joint may need to be redone, and is no longer providing efficient cooling for the CPU (and the fan is forced to run too hard). That's a task that MIGHT give you back your quiet laptop, even if you don't replace the fan.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, including that those two parts are suitable to replace my current fan.

I think I'll start off my cleaning the fan with compressed air and see if that does the trick. I don't think I've cleaned the dust out once in 5 years so I can imagine that's an issue at least.
 
Getting a new fan might be a good idea still though. Fans don't last forever. Have you ever had any kind of fan last longer than 5 years?

stevearm said:
Thanks for the info, including that those two parts are suitable to replace my current fan.

I think I'll start off my cleaning the fan with compressed air and see if that does the trick. I don't think I've cleaned the dust out once in 5 years so I can imagine that's an issue at least.
Click to expand...
 
stevearm said:
Thanks for the info, including that those two parts are suitable to replace my current fan.

I think I'll start off my cleaning the fan with compressed air and see if that does the trick. I don't think I've cleaned the dust out once in 5 years so I can imagine that's an issue at least.
Click to expand...

And ClickToFlash will also do wonders.
 
stevearm said:
I think I'll start off my cleaning the fan with compressed air and see if that does the trick. I don't think I've cleaned the dust out once in 5 years so I can imagine that's an issue at least.
Click to expand...
I used a soft and dry toothbrush, because compressed air does nothing inside a MBP. I removed the fan (not the cables) and removed the dust with the soft and dry toothbrush. Compressed air has many applications and this is not one of them.

The left fan was pretty old and loud, so that i replaced the fan with a new one. Both, the cleaning with the toothbrush and the replacement of the fan solved the loudness problem for me. The MBP runs now much cooler (≈ 20 °C lower).

The cost of the new fan and the toothbrush was below 40 £.
 
Interesting thanks for the info. Surprised to hear you say that compressed air doesn't do much, I've watched a few videos on YouTube that shows it working very well to clear the dust?
 
stevearm said:
Interesting thanks for the info. Surprised to hear you say that compressed air doesn't do much, I've watched a few videos on YouTube that shows it working very well to clear the dust?
Click to expand...
Did they remove the fan(s), and did they show the air inlet was dust free? My own experience is, that compressed air distributes the dust and does not remove the thick layer of dust, which you see when you remove the fan.

----------
simsaladimbamba said:
How does click to play work in Chrome then? Flash videos always start to play when the site is loaded.
Click to expand...
https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/142064?hl=en-GB

(click "Run or block plug-ins")

Chrome Help said:
...
Click to play: Chrome will block all plug-ins, but you can play some of them by clicking the plug-in icon
...
Click to expand...

Only HTML5 videos load automatically, if you use the Youtube HTML5 video player.
 
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