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Replacing fan.. should I replace heatsink too?

P

poopieboy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
My macbook fan has been super noisy for about a month and a half now. I checked with smcfancontrol and the speed was completely normal. This last week its been starting up with a fan speed of 0rpm and gradually builds up to 2100 but it will no longer go past this. I took it to an apple store and they confirmed the fan must be replaced, but I don't have the money to pay them for it.

I am going to be replacing it myself and have done my research and know I am capable of doing it. I have not yet decided whether I will buy the fan off ebay or off powerbookmedic.com, but I notice I can buy the fan assembly (fan and housing) or fan assembly with heatsink.

What should I buy? Should I just replace the fan or should I go ahead and replace the heatsink while I'm at it?
 
Well would it be a bad idea to replace the heatsink too? The fan w/ heatsink is pretty cheap on ebay.

Which leads me to ask, are the macbook fans on ebay a good idea or should i just go with the powerbookmedic.com ones?
 
As long as the specs of the fans are similar I don't see a problem with where you get the fan or what brand it is.
If the heat sink comes with the fan I'd say sure go ahead and replace it but I wouldn't go out of your way looking for one. It won't really make a difference.
 
It isn't imperative to replace the heatsink when you replace the fan, just remember to be careful, reattach the felt tape that attached the 2 pieces, and use new thermal paste on your processors after thoroughly cleaning off the old paste. Good luck! This repair isn't very difficult, just keep track of your screws.
 
Thanks a lot Silvia, I ordered the fan this morning off ebay for 5 bucks. I am not going to replace the heatsink. I have a system for tracking which screw goes where already.

I have printed out the instructions on ifixit.com on how to replace the fan, and will have double sided tape on the little circles indicating which screw goes where, so when I take off a screw I will just tape it to the picture of the macbook corresponding to where that screw is. I shouldn't have an issue there.

Once I have this thing fully open, screws aside, is there any other place where you think I could mess up and possibly damage my computer?
 
My old macbook fan was not working so I replaced it today. However the new installed one doesn't work either 🙁. I wonder if it isn't working because I broke the black felt tape (where ifixit clearly states that I shouldn't). Does anyone know what the felt tape does? Thanks.
 
The black felt tape just holds the fan to the heat sink and direct the air out the back of the macbook and is not going to prevent the fan from working.
 
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