Dude....shoot that poor thing and put it out of it's misery.
You have been running it without a fan for a long time?
Hell, with that abuse, it's a wonder that it's lasted this long. You have most like been overheating it all that time and it's finally giving up. If anything I guess it DOES show that POWERCOOLER did a damned good job on the heatsink when they designed it.
Bite the bullet and get a new card. This time, if the fan fails, either RMA it if under warranty, or put on an aftermarket one if not. Your video card will 'love you long time' for that, and will work for a long time too.