How to relubricate/service a troublesome or noisy fan.

[lexluthermiester]

I've seen a number of complaints recently about users experiencing problems with the fans in their system.

Most fans are serviceable by design. Whether they're a case fan, a fan mounted on a CPU heatsink or a fan mounted on a GPU heatsink, the vast majority of fans can be serviced.

Today, I'm going to show, with photographs, how to reoil/regrease a fan bearing.

Have selected a pair of fans I've had for years. Neither actually NEED servicing, but for the purpose of today's demonstration, they will make for a good showing.

The first up is a CoolerMaster 120MM model.


Let's begin by pealing up the label, but take care not to pull it completely off.

Most fans have a rubber or plastic gasket covering the bearing chamber. It needs to be lifted up.

I use a razor blade to gently lift it up but a small flat-tip screw driver should do the trick as well.

Now that we have direct access to the bearing chamber, we can apply the lubricant. I use a special blend mix of 10W40 motor oil and Dielectric grease in a 50/50 ratio.
However, any quality oil will work fine. Try to avoid spray-can lubricants as they can be very messy to apply. WD-40 and similar spray fluids should be avoided as they're not designed to be a bearing oil and degrade/break-down easily.

It's easy to apply and only 3 or 4 drops are needed.

Not shown is how work the lube into the bearing shaft housing. Holding the frame of the fan with one hand and the fan hub in the other and work the fan hub in and out a few times. Then spin the fan a bit. Then pull the hub in and out a few times. Repeat that cycle a few times and your fan bearing is now well lubricated. Put the gasket back in place and seal the label back up.

And you're done!

Now we're going to look at a fan that is NOT easily serviced. This is uncommon, but they do exist. This example is from a Sparkle GeForce GTX560 2GB model.


Here is the fan dismounted from the heatsink.


And again we lift up the label.

Here I had to use a drill to remove some of the plastic frame to get access to the bearing chamber.

With this particular fan, the spaces in the bearing chamber housing are smaller and as such, less lubricant will fit in. I used 2 drops in this case. Worked the lube into the bearing by spinning the fan and doing the pull/push thing on the fan hub, then put in one more drop. Then I sealed up the label again.

Anyone is invited to pose questions and ask for advice on how to perform a fan servicing. Photo's are always helpful and encouraged. Please limit resolution to 1920x1080ish and use the "Attach files" button to post photo's directly in the forum post. External image hosting services can be troublesome.

As far as the "best" lubricant to use, I use something special and I can give a guide on how to make it, but any bearing oil you can find at a hardware store will do the job well.

So there you go folks, be courageous and service your fans with confidence! Cheers All!

@Greenslade

While I created this guide for everyone, you were the motivator for this thread. I hope this helps with your fan issue.

 

[meatwar]

Well done, will be useful for users that didn't know how simple can be.
On fans that have the seal cap, after por oil i also seal it with grease on top, then the rubber/plastic cap.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Well done

Thank You!

will be useful for users that didn't know how simple can be.

Hoping so. I've read about people throwing away perfectly good fans when all they need is a bit of TLC. GPU fans can be even more troublesome because people just don't know how to relubricate them.

 

[nomdeplume]

Good timing, I just pulled a 120mm Scythe out to see if it could be lubed. Had a long and hard life on a heat sink before working tirelessly as an exhaust fan. Things went a bit less smoothly than above.

Lots of heat dried up the glue and sticker to point of no two millimeters in any direction pulling away the same layers. Only to discover Scythe does a handmade four layer seal with lens. Hard to see the layers of plastic and glue intended to forbid access and make the seal air tight. After much thought I closed this up with heavy duty 3M clear packing tape splices in a sunburst pattern.

Good point to note I have a tiny bottle of very light machine oil (technically what is recommended) that came with a hair clippers. If you know what you are doing you can get away with mixing stuff that won't gum up.

And here I had to use a drill to remove some of the plastic frame to get access to the bearing chamber.

Got a good laugh out of just casually doing exploratory drilling to avoid conceding defeat.

 

[Easy Rhino]

Good advice. I think most people don't know which grease/oil to use so they just toss the fan.

 

[sLowEnd]

I've had some success refreshing some old Hiper and Xigmatek fans with 3 in One motor oil before.

3-IN-ONE Motor Oil

Keep those small motors humming happily with this versatile motor lubricant.

3inone.com

 

[evernessince]

Great tutorial. Wish I would have known PC fans were so easy to service, I would have thrown a lot less away over the years.

 

[Shrek]

They say don't use detergent oil, but I happily use fully synthetic 5W-30 engine oil.

 

[meatwar]

Well keep in mind that there's a limit for this "fix"...
Some bearings and axles can be sever damaged already and after this maintenance, some will still be a little noisy.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I've had some success refreshing some old Hiper and Xigmatek fans with 3 in One motor oil before.

3-IN-ONE Motor Oil

Keep those small motors humming happily with this versatile motor lubricant.

3inone.com

That oil is a good one and will work well.

Great tutorial. Wish I would have known PC fans were so easy to service, I would have thrown a lot less away over the years.

Hopefully you do less throwing away of fans in future!

They say don't use detergent oil, but I happily use fully synthetic 5W-30 motor oil.

Um, I have been using synthetic motor oils as fan oil for years. I don't think the detergents in motor oils have any negative effect on fan bearings or the bearing chamber housing. So, yeah 5W30 should be fine. I use 10W40 with grease because it's a bit thicker and generally provides better wear protection on the bearing itself.

Some bearings and axles can be sever damaged already and after this maintenance, some will still be a little noisy.

This is true, but is also rare. I have to toss fans very rarely because they failed even after being serviced.

 

[Shrek]

Um, I have been using synthetic motor oils as fan oil for years. I don't think the detergents in motor oils have any negative effect on fan bearings or the bearing chamber housing. So, yeah 5W30 should be fine. I use 10W40 with grease because it's a bit thicker and generally provides better wear protection on the bearing itself.

I think the agument is that detergent oils keep the particles in suspension, while the non-detergent oils don't; but my fans seem to just keep working on engine oil.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I think the agument is that detergent oils keep the particles in solution, while the non-detergent oild don't; but my fans seem to just keep working on engine oil.

Fair enough. Had never heard about that before now.

 

[Greenslade]

I've seen a number of complaints recently about users experiencing problems with the fans in there system.

Most fans are serviceable by design. Whether they're a case fan, a fan mounted on a CPU heatsink or a fan mounted on a GPU heatsink, the vast majority of fans can be serviced.

Today, I'm going to show, with photographs, how to reoil/regrease a fan bearing. He we go.

I've selected a pair of fans I've had for years. Neither actually NEED servicing, but for the purpose of today's demonstration, they will make for a good showing.

The first is a CoolerMaster 120MM model.
View attachment 291969View attachment 291970
Let's first peal up the label, but take care not to pull it completely off.
View attachment 291971

Most fans have rubber or plastic gasket covering the bearing chamber. It needs to be lifted up.
View attachment 291971

I use a razor blade to gently lift it up but a small flat-tip screw driver should do the trick as well.
View attachment 291972

Now that we have direct access to the bearing chamber, we can apply the lubricant. I use a special blend I mix using 10W40 motor oil and Dielectric grease in a 50/50 ratio.
However, any quality oil will work fine. Try to avoid spray-can lubricants as they can be very messy to apply. WD-40 should be avoided as it's not designed to be a bearing oil.
View attachment 291973

It's easy to apply and only 3 or 4 drops are needed.
View attachment 291974

Not shown is how work the lube into the bearing shaft housing. Holding the frame of the fan with one hand and the fan hub in the other and work the fan hub in and out a few times. Then spin the fan a bit. Then pull the hub in and out a few times. Repeat that cycle a few times and your fan bearing is now well lubricated. Put the gasket back in place and seal the label back up.
View attachment 291975
And you're done!

Now we're going to look at a fan that is NOT easily serviced. This is uncommon, but they do exist. This example is from a Sparkle GeForce GTX560 2GB model.
View attachment 291976View attachment 291977

Here is the fan dismounted from the heatsink.
View attachment 291978View attachment 291979

And again we lift up the label.
View attachment 291980

And here I had to use a drill to remove some of the plastic frame to get access to the bearing chamber.
View attachment 291981
With this particular fan, the spaces in the bearing chamber housing are smaller and as such, less lubricant will fit in. I used 2 drops in this case. Worked the lube into the bearing by spinning the fan and doing the pull/push thing on the fan hub, then put in one more drop. Then I sealed up the label again.

Anyone is invited to pose questions and ask for advice on how to perform a fan servicing. Photo's are always helpful and encouraged. Please limit resolution to 1920x1080ish and use the "Attach files" button to post photo's directly in the forum post. External image hosting services can be troublesome.

As far as the "best" lubricant to use, I use something special and I can give a guide on how to make it, but any bearing oil you can find at a hardware store will do the job well.

So there you go folks, be courageous and service your fans with confidence! Cheers All!

@Greenslade

While I created this guide for everyone, you were the motivator for this thread. I hope this helps with your fan issue.

Thanks for doing this poet Lex. I will give it a go tomorrow

Thank You!

Hoping so. I've read about people throwing away perfectly good fans when all they need is a bit of TLC. GPU fans can be even more troublesome because people just don't know how to relubricate them.

The one I threw out the fan was working, but the picture on the Monitor had lines all over it.

 

[bobbybluz]

Fair enough. Had never heard about that before now.

I used to rebuild electric fans (the 120 volt type). One thing I discovered about using oil on the ones with bronze or oil-lite bearings is that most conventional oils only sped up the wear process on the bearings. They'd work OK for a while then the armature shafts would get sloppy and wear out the bearings even faster. One day I'd just changed the oil in my Cadillac Northstar (5w-30 Mobil 1) and noticed the extremely thin leftover in the bottom of the 5 quart container. I poured it into a small plastic bottle I used for the oil I assembled slot car motors with. The bearing wear stopped happening and the fans lasted a lot longer. It also worked great on computer fans.

Now I use Anderol 465 that's specifically formulated for motor bearings. Amazon is vastly overpriced, do a Google search for the best deal. That's what Technics has used for decades as the spindle lubricant in their turntables.

 

[Ociya Syndor]

That's what Technics has used for decades as the spindle lubricant in their turntables.

i (still) my 1200-mkIIs

Most fans are serviceable by design. Whether they're a case fan, a fan mounted on a CPU heatsink or a fan mounted on a GPU heatsink, the vast majority of fans can be serviced.

Today, I'm going to show, with photographs, how to reoil/regrease a fan bearing. He we go.

Thank You Lex, for your easy-to-follow guide w/pix. Will this mixture of lube work for Hydro (Fluid) Dynamic Bearing fans as well?

 

[lexluthermiester]

I used to rebuild electric fans (the 120 volt type). One thing I discovered about using oil on the ones with bronze or oil-lite bearings is that most conventional oils only sped up the wear process on the bearings. They'd work OK for a while then the armature shafts would get sloppy and wear out the bearings even faster.

Interesting. Those kinds of fans are very specialized and require specially formulated lubricants.

One day I'd just changed the oil in my Cadillac Northstar (5w-30 Mobil 1) and noticed the extremely thin leftover in the bottom of the 5 quart container. I poured it into a small plastic bottle I used for the oil I assembled slot car motors with. The bearing wear stopped happening and the fans lasted a lot longer. It also worked great on computer fans.

Nice. Seems like a happy accidental find!

Now I use Anderol 465 that's specifically formulated for motor bearings. Amazon is vastly overpriced, do a Google search for the best deal. That's what Technics has used for decades as the spindle lubricant in their turntables.

Fair enough, I'll look that up.

Will this mixture of lube work for Hydro (Fluid) Dynamic Bearing fans as well?

I want to say no. I've never needed to service one before because that just don't get jammed like normal sleeve-bearing and ball-bearing fans can and do. This is likely because they are pressure fit sealed.

 

[Greenslade]

I used to rebuild electric fans (the 120 volt type). One thing I discovered about using oil on the ones with bronze or oil-lite bearings is that most conventional oils only sped up the wear process on the bearings. They'd work OK for a while then the armature shafts would get sloppy and wear out the bearings even faster. One day I'd just changed the oil in my Cadillac Northstar (5w-30 Mobil 1) and noticed the extremely thin leftover in the bottom of the 5 quart container. I poured it into a small plastic bottle I used for the oil I assembled slot car motors with. The bearing wear stopped happening and the fans lasted a lot longer. It also worked great on computer fans.

Now I use Anderol 465 that's specifically formulated for motor bearings. Amazon is vastly overpriced, do a Google search for the best deal. That's what Technics has used for decades as the spindle lubricant in their turntables.

I have just looked it up on eBay and Amazon for £9 a bottle The card only cost me a pound needless to say I won't be bothering to get the fan working. It gives me a post on the Monitor.

 

[xrobwx71]

Thanks for the time and effort, very helpful post!

 

[Bill_Bright]

Very nice tutorial, Lex. No doubt, performing these tasks will definitely prolong the life of many fans.

Hoping so. I've read about people throwing away perfectly good fans when all they need is a bit of TLC. GPU fans can be even more troublesome because people just don't know how to relubricate them.

It gets worse than that. I have seen too many graphics cards, CPU coolers, and power supplies end up in the trash bin simply because the fan failed or was making too much noise. Your tutorial will [hopefully] help keep some of that waste from happening.

It should be noted, re-lubing a fan will not repair or restore worn bearings. Once damaged, that damage is done. It may quiet some noisy bearings for a while, but it is a temporary fix. So this re-lubing procedure would be a great "preventative maintenance" step to perform before damaging wear occurs in the first place. Of course, predicting when irrepable damage will occur is impossible. That said, "temporary" could still mean years! Or a couple weeks.

I have to say, none of those fans are "serviceable by design". Fans that are serviceable "by design" have an access panel or port that flips open, or has a door that can easily be unscrewed just for this purpose. When serviceable by design, access does not require peeling off labels, prying out plugs with a razor blade, and especially does not require drilling holes.

Still, that does not mean they are not user-serviceable. Like many other products, many of these fans are not designed to be serviced by the end-user, or by anyone for that matter, simply because the manufacturer would much rather we spend more money, buy all new and keep their shareholders happy.

They say don't use detergent oil

I don't think the detergents in motor oils have any negative effect on fan bearings or the bearing chamber housing

Lex is correct to say detergent oils will not harm the bearings or the bearing chambers/channels. The problem with detergent oils is they, by design, will break down some greases and help remove and prevent the build-up of "oil sludge" - crud caused by dust and other debris then mixes with the lubricants and contaminates the bearings. Often aided by heat caused by friction, this sludge then gels and hardens - which is detrimental to the proper movement of the bearings, compounding the friction (and heat) problem.

Some may remember the old motor oil commercials where the mechanic "washed" his greasy hands with new motor oil. Some fans use grease or special oils and detergent oil may break down the lubricant.

Dust and other debris is not a problem with these fans because the bearings are sealed just to prevent such contamination. So the problem with detergent oils is they make break down the desired lubricants used by the fan manufacturers, rendering the lubricant less effective. Not good.

Having said that, worn bearings, even in sealed chambers, still may become contaminated with crud from the particles worn off the bearings and the channel walls the bearings run in.

For this reason, when I want to see if I can extend the life, or quiet a noisy fan, what I tend to do is completely de-grease the bearing chamber with a de-greaser, then clean out the de-greaser with electrical contact cleaner. This is a messy process so do it outside, over newspaper or the like. Then, after ensuring the motor is completely dry, I repack the bearings either with white grease (if originally had grease) or with a good "non-detergent" oil such as Liberty Oil (designed for sewing machine motors), or 3-in-on SAE 20 non-detergent motor oil. And because it is likely I have destroyed the label in the cleaning process, I make a new seal with clear Gorilla Tape.

I agree completely and folks should avoid using "regular" WD-40 and all other spray-lubricants. The problem here is, even if good for the bearings, there most likely will be "overspray" that will prevent the label from re-sealing effectively. Without a proper seal, it will not be long before the bearing chamber gets packed with dust. Not good.

As a side note, excellent image quality, Lex and if you didn't use a tripod, I envy your steady hands!

 

[Shrek]

I am lazy and don't clean out the old dried out grease, arguing that the old grease matrix will get renovated and help hold the oil.

I've had some success refreshing some old Hiper and Xigmatek fans with 3 in One motor oil before.

3-IN-ONE Motor Oil

Keep those small motors humming happily with this versatile motor lubricant.

3inone.com

Seems this is indeed a non-detergent oil
Amazon.com: 3-IN-ONE-10045 Motor Oil, 3 OZ (pack of 1) : Automotive

However I'm not so sure I would go as far as
"if you use a detergent oil or wd40 etc on an electric fan etc the sintered brass bearings will shed & wear down"

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Great guide lex, I've never had (or even seen) one that is covered by the plastic frame, but I HAVE had a few issues with the stickers that cover them. Not all stickers are made of robust foil-like material, and can be very hard to peel back without tearing. In some cases I have used a thick packaging tape over the torn sticker, like Duck Tape brand. If you had to completely fashion a new sticker, I imagine foil duct tape would be the way to go.

https://www.amazon.com/3M-3311-Silver-Aluminum-Foil/dp/B007Y7EP5I/ref=asc_df_B007Y7EP5I?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=79920803409775&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583520391388837&psc=1

The oil I use is Liberty Synthetic, which is favored by those whom repair grandfather clocks. What I like about it is it's very resistant to high temps, and does not separate or dry out. It's a bit pricey at just under $10 an oz, but since you only need to use 2 or 3 drops, it lasts a LONG time. This stuff has quieted many a fan that I've run long enough for the lube to dry out, and are still running fine at over 10 yrs of use.

https://www.amazon.com/Liberty-Synthetic-Lubricating-Grandfather-Clocks/dp/B00AZMGFI4/ref=asc_df_B00AZMGFI4?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=79852087912498&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583451663538386&psc=1

 

[Bill_Bright]

I am lazy and don't clean out the old dried out grease, arguing that the old grease matrix will get renovated and help hold the oil.

I think that is a fair argument if the new lubricant uses the same formula as the original. But how would consumers know what the original lubricant is? That's the problem I see.

Lubricants can be very high-tech chemical formulas with different viscosities, different operating temperatures, designed for different operating environments. Mixing different formulas can bring unexpected, often undesirable results - even when the products serve the same or similar purposes. This is why we are not supposed to mix different cleaning agents - like bleach with ammonia. Or acrylic and enamel paints.

Some lubricants are silicon based. Some petroleum. Some graphite. Some include Teflon and/or other ingredients that may or may not interact in good ways with other ingredients.

 

[skizzo]

I put a piece of electrical tape in place of the sticker in case it no longer is tacky enough to hold in place. only reason I've done that though is because the particular fans I was lubing up did not have a plug. the only protection was the sticker.

I've always used 3 in 1 oil also to do these types of tasks. works well in my experience

 

[Frag_Maniac]

I put a piece of electrical tape in place of the sticker in case it no longer is tacky enough to hold in place. only reason I've done that though is because the particular fans I was lubing up did not have a plug. the only protection was the sticker.

I've always used 3 in 1 oil also to do these types of tasks. works well in my experience

Yeah I don't for the life of me get why electrical tape isn't made better. I've seen many mechanics use it even on wiring in engine bays of cars, only for it to come unstuck.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I don't for the life of me get why electrical tape isn't made better.

Well, it's not all created equal.