sony vaio problems...

Hello!
I had a couple questions...

I bought a Sony Vaio laptop new (well, open-box) from BestBuy about a year and a half ago. It was purchased here in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
My laptop is shutting down without warning after a few minutes of being turned on and I'm fairly certain that the fan is dead, so it's an overheating issue. I contacted Sony and they told me that my laptop is not covered under the faulty fan recall due to my model number, so they were going to charge $180+ just to LOOK AT IT.

I took my laptop into a repair shop to get it checked out and the man said that it just needed a new fan. Great, I thought, fans are fairly cheap so this shouldn't cost over $100. To my surprise he wanted $185 for the repair.
After walking around the store thinking about it I decided not to go for it, it just seems like robbery to get charged nearly $200 for a new FAN.

I've been searching the internet and doing the repair yourself seems pretty straightforward, I just need the correct replacement part.
This is where my questions come in...

The screen of my laptop says vgn-nw265D and the bottom says pcg-7184L, Which one is the model number? What does the other number mean?

The ONLY fan/heatsink I can find for sale that matches those numbers is this;
SONY VGN-NW265F PCG-7184L FAN HEATSINK | eBay
Is that a fair price? Keeping in mind I need to ship it to Canada.

Is there any hope that I can find a shop here in town that will repair it for a reasonable price so that I don't need to find this fan?

I REALLY appreciate any help. Thank you!

 

the model number you care about is the VGN-NW (a.k.a. the series letters), the other one is a Sony internal one. As for why the fan cost so much, because it's not a generic fan (I don't believe) and they're probably going to want to charge for labor and the part itself is hard to get (even if you buy it from Sony, it'll cost quite a bit). You might want to do your research if selling the laptop is worth more to you than fixing it up.

If you want to check, use HWMonitor software to look at your temps (if you can install it before the laptop shuts itself off)

 

Alright, I'll attempt to try HWMonitor before the computer shuts down. Thanks!

*Edit
erm... I have no idea what temp the components of a laptop would optimally be running at and what I should be looking out for. Should I just keep an eye on the CPU?

*Edit #2
Doh, I just realized you can check fan speeds with it, so I guess it should be pretty obvious if the fan isnt functioning then

 

there is no software which can read fan speed in latest VAIOs. secondly, just because fan is not working, doesn't mean its the fan itself which is bad. a controller on the motherboard may be spoilt, temperature sensors may be spoilt... there are a 100 possibilities!

 

...Yikes.
So I should just fork over the dough? I'd hate to pay the money to get the fan only to have it not solve the problem.

I can't imagine I'd get anything for a broken laptop. It's just spare parts at that point, and I hate using my girlfriends tablet PC. It's the most unreliable thing I've ever used.

So if I pay the $180+ for the "fan repair" and it ends up being a motherboard issue, they should end up fixing that under the $180, right? I mean right on there website it says this;
"
3. No Fix — No Fees
Pay nothing if we can't fix it — no catches, no hidden fees, no hooks.
No hourly rates - we'll quote exact price before starting any repair.
At Vancouver Laptop we do our best to ensure you get most reliable laptop / notebook repair at reasonable price.
All repairs covered by our rock-solid warranty.
"

Obviously I can't expect you guys to know what their intentions are, but it would seem like it right?

Thanks!