oiling the cpu fan

[gahbahj]

hi,
i read all the posts here on cpu fan as mine has made a few noises one time after being on for many hours. i had the fan/heatsink out to clean out & replace the original thermal paste last year and have removed the keyboard every 6 mo or so to be sure i've blown all the dust out. this reduced the average operating temp while watching a vid by about 10 degrees compared to when i got it 18 mo ago. before getting a new fan, i'd like more detail about cleaning and oiling the fan with a graphite lube that someone talked about but didnt say anything more. the service manual doesnt describe anything that i found. does the fan pop out? do i have to remove the heatsink? is there something like an access hole to put a drop of oil? i do have some in a little can like 3-in-1 oil.
i use the t43 fan control v0.18 which i have set to run the fan in steps from 2 to 7 for 35F-60F. i like the idea of keeping the cpu cool - is this wise or am i overusing the fan?
thanks for your help.

[RealBlackStuff]

To work on it, you need to take the CPU fan out. See this for lubing your fan:
http://www.techspot.com/vb/all/windows/ ... -fans.html

To repair your 4-key, check this out:
http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-Thinkpad-T20-T2 ... 0210503228

[gahbahj]

thanks for the fan link mr blackStuff. looks like great info.

the link to ebay keys seems to be just for replacement of missing keys. my key is there, as i said, it functions like all the other keys mechanically, but does not function at all now electronically. i'm gonna make a seperate thread since no one is responding so far.

thanks again for your help

[gahbahj]

been outta town so now i've had the chance to remove the cpu fan & h/s. the link provided has great info on fans that hide the spindle under the paper label, but this cpu fan looks like it's pressed into the housing and the label covers that, but no oiling access hole. the top of the fan rotates as one so no hole there either. i poked around with a pin to see if i could find a spot that "went thru" the paper for oiling without success. this poking gave me an outline of the ring formed by the fan being pressed into the housing. i peeled the paper off of this ring, but its solid, so i'm still wondering where to apply the little drop of oil and little bit of graphite.
the fan appears to be mounted with a circuit board covering spindle access, but there is a gap or flat part of the otherwise round circuit board in one part near where the wires go into the fan. that seems to be the only obvious "access" but doesnt make obvious sense for getting oil to the spindle. do i need to take more of it apart or what?
thanks again.

[RealBlackStuff]

Get a strong paperclip, and bend one end to a 90 degree angle. Then put this end under a couple of blades of your fan, as close to the middle as you can, and gently pull it straight up. The fan with spindle will come out.
Do your grease monkey job, and carefully push the fan straight back in.

In case you have no oil, but you DO have WD40, get a small clear plastic bag (e.g. as used for sandwiches), put the nozzle-tube in the bag, close the bag around the tube, and spray enough WD40 into the bag, that you can see some clear liquid. Take the tube out, and use e.g. a wooden toothpick to transfer some WD40 into the oiling spot.

[gahbahj]

ok, that tells me the cover has to come off, so i bent the tabs with my thumbnail and popped the cover off and the fan was easily removed by lifting it with my fingers. should it have been tighter? i'm using some bicycle chain lube with the graphite powder.

[RealBlackStuff]

When I did the same job on a T30 fan, I found it came out fairly easy.
I think that bicycle oil is too thick for your fan. Use sewing machine oil, or the WD40 as mentioned instead.

[gahbahj]

turns out the chain lube was thinner than 3-in-1 oil & teflon based so i mixed the 2 oils a bit with the graphite using a folded piece of brown grocery bag and applied to the spindle before replacing. fan is nice and quiet now. much obliged