The Lenovo T430, like any computer, is prone to part failure. My T430 started showing signs of throttling because of sudden rises of temperature to unsafe levels, even with the changes made in my previous post.
I was able to find a replacement fan made by Delta from another T430, which is a direct quieter and better performing replacement. Different T430 versions were manufactured with different parts apparently.
The process of changing the heatsink/fan assembly is straight forward. Remove the battery, RAM cover, visible and hidden screws, keyboard and top cover with a guitar pick. Its good to have isopropanol alcohol handy to clean the CPU and thermal paste to improve the cooling.
Here are the heatsink-fan assemblies side by side. On the left the new one from Delta, and on the right the faulty one. They are different sizes, and after testing the one from Delta is quieter and more efficient keeping my laptop cool.
