Fixing a 5850's buggered fan

[Enmity]

Hey guys, the fan on my gpu recently has been making a horrible grinding kind of noise from a cold boot, after warming up the sound stops...the card runs fine, temps are fine and i've taken some advise from others and have pulled the card apart (ive never done this before) - so now I have the fan completely out of the cooling assembly and im looking at what i'm guessing is the oil to lubricate around the fan?...can someone confirm this? also, what can I use to fill in the 2/3's of the fan where this oil is missing?

[RejZoR]

These fans are (were) ridiculously cheap crap on HD5000 series. My HD5850 started causing vibrations on boot high speed spinup after 1 month. After 6 months it was causing rattling on such spinup. After 1 year it was releasing rattling noises even during nromal usage. And then i fried it after toying around with Zalman VF-900. Oh well. Have decided to never buy any reference coooler card ever again. Thanks AMD for screwing up the only exhausting cooler (all the others dump all the heat in the case)...

Also the main problem of these fans is just impossible maintenance. I've repaired many sleeve and ball bearing fans but this thing is impossible to open. Which is even more stupid.

Best bet would be to find the OEM who's supplying AMD with these fans and order 2 of these from them directly. Or just find some cheap store from china or wherever they make these and order it there. I don't think you'll be able to fix it. Pouring in oil is not a good idea because you don't even know what kind of bearing is used. If you pour in oil into ball bearing directly it will make things even worse because the ball bearing housing will start to spin inside the frame and also the rotor will spin isnide the bearing, making all kinds of noises. Plus if the oil is not in the closed bearing chamber, centrifugal forces (of the fan and the air around it) will make the fan spew out the oil all over the heatsink and PCB.

[Scatler]

Honestly i'd dump the stock cooling since it's pure crap and get something in the lines of Icy Vision A.

[Zubasa]

Originally Posted by RejZoR

Snip

Well the 5850 must have a different fan than the 5870 then.... The fan on my 5870 lasted longer than the card itself.
Although my reference card was basically the first batch on release.

[RejZoR]

Originally Posted by Scatler

Honestly i'd dump the stock cooling since it's pure crap and get something in the lines of Icy Vision A.

Well, for me it worked perfectly well. Since it was dumping the heat outside the case i didn't really need it to spin as high so it was pretty silent as well.

[Enmity]

Ok so can i fix this or not guys? Im gunna sell these in like a month anyway so dont really want to invest anymore money into this card. If its going to cost then i might aswell just flick it off and tell the new owner to replace the cooler.

[CaptainFailcon]

pull the rubber plug out in the center and fill it full of a light weight oil and then replace the plug
sewing machine oil,mineral oil
but don't use wd40 or pbblaster it will eat the rubber and ruin the fan
and don't oil anything but the center it could shortout

[Enmity]

Hmm, i thought that centre part was a metal of some sort. Its cold to the touch. Ill have another look

[Enmity]

Definitely not rubber man, its metal. Cant get that sucker out

[Radical_Edward]

I just bought a new fan off ebay when mine started dying. They are only like $10-15.

[Enmity]

I've been looking down that route but i'm in new zealand. looking around at the kiwi online stores and second hand sellers and havent had any luck so far. I've taken some more pics of the fan from various angles to see if anyone else can let me know what I could possibly do. Im keeping a look out for a replacement fan but until i find one i'll keep hoping I can somehow fix this

[Enmity]

[JrRacinFan]

Replace it finding a cooler that would be rather universal to use on your next GPU. Alternatively (although this might cost you just as much as a cooler in shipping) is to RMA the card.

[CaptainFailcon]

That center plug MUST comeout looks like brass or something soft id try prying around it with a small Flathead the bearings are underneath and thats what must be oild

[RejZoR]

Considering the shape of the brass thing i don't think anything is undernath that. I think it's just the rotor's base attached to that plastic base.

[Zubasa]

Also by the looks of it you can't remove that brass piece without destroying the fan.

[CaptainFailcon]

it is exceedingly rare for the bearing cap not to be removable if its the case then I would never buy one with that style of fan

[Radical_Edward]

Originally Posted by Enmity

I've been looking down that route but i'm in new zealand. looking around at the kiwi online stores and second hand sellers and havent had any luck so far. I've taken some more pics of the fan from various angles to see if anyone else can let me know what I could possibly do. Im keeping a look out for a replacement fan but until i find one i'll keep hoping I can somehow fix this

I ordered one off ebay, from china and got it in about 5-6 days time. Honestly your wasting your time messing with that fan, the brass piece is there pretty well and you'd have to drill a small hole next to it or something in order to get it out. (Honestly a bad idea and not worth doing.)

[m1dg3t]

Looks like the shaft is press-fit into the back/mounting plate, gonna be tricky to get it off without breaking it but should be possible if done with care. Maybe try warming it a bit with a blowdryer or similar and work the plate off carefully

Good luck!

[Enmity]

Well, i decided to spray the crap out of the fan with CRC, i've now put everything back together, fans working sweet and no sign of that horrid noise so far