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I have a case fan that can be quite noisy. I can take the fan out of the case, peel back the sticker on the center to expose access to the bearings, and lubricate the fan. Thus far, I've been using a few drops of WD-40, but after a few days the fan makes noise again.

Obviously, I could buy a new fan, but knowing how to lubricate a noisy fan seems somewhat useful, as not all hardware hardware has replaceable fan units.

Does anyone know why the WD-40 only works temporarily, and what I should be using instead?

HopelessN00b
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Greg Mattes
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7 Answers7

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You should really replace the fan. The ball bearing has probably seized and adding lubrication will only help for a few days. As a temporary lubricant you could use about anything with low friction.

Kiwi
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    Worse, most fans are sleeve bearing and don't last that long. Purchase a quality ball bearing fan. – Brian Knoblauch Dec 16 '09 at 16:09
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    +1: It's a cheap part, and one that shouldn't require maintenance during its design life. (Shouldn't use WD-40 anyway; 3-in-1 oil for bearings.) – Satanicpuppy Dec 16 '09 at 16:09
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    Disagree. I've seen many noisy fans "get better", and often last the life of the machine (4-5+ years total). – Boden Dec 16 '09 at 16:40
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    +1: The amount of labor you spend relubricating the fan will almost certainly eclipse the cost of replacing the fan. – rob Dec 16 '09 at 18:04
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    I've oiled fans and had them run for years afterwards. 3-in-1 or sewing machine oil. Useful for high quality but old fans. Not so useful for fans that were cheap to start with. – Grant Aug 23 '12 at 19:56
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I'd try 3 in one oil. WD-40 is mostly a solvent, 3 in one should give you a longer term solution.

Russ
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Aerosol Teflon is another option.

Dennis Williamson
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I do what you're suggesting quite frequently. I put a few drops of WD40 down into the bearing, and then I use a high pressure air hose to spin the fan real fast. I then take a paper towel and wipe out the gunk. I might repeat the process one more time. Then I put a drop or two of 3 in 1 oil in there and give it another good spin.

After having done this dozens of times with fans of various size and make, I would say that it restores fan life for a considerable period. Sometimes the fan will start chattering again after a year or so and I'll repeat the process. In only a few situations have I ever had to buy a new fan. It's not that I'm cheap, it's that finding a replacement fan can be an irritating process..especially if it's some goofy chipset fan with a unique mount. This process only takes ten minutes, and so far I've found it less time consuming than trying to find a replacement.

One exception I make is for power supply fans. I don't open those things up anymore. I typically just buy a new supply.

Boden
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Clean it out and use a vegetable based oil with a pin hole oil lubricator. It looks like a pen. You can get them at a hardware store. Or just replace the fan you cheapo.

Rob
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I notice that amazon is offering one heck of a deal on 55 gallon drums of lube - almost two thirds off! I'm not sure how well this type of lube would work on a fan, and the fact that it's water-based would make me a little wary of using it on an electronic component, but seeing as how your fan should probably be replaced anyway, it seems like a perfect opportunity to try something a little bit "out there."

Community
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HopelessN00b
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The Definitive Proper Method to lubricate a noisy fan, it will work on most fans and it will continue to work longer than expected in most cases.

WD40 is a great start only, and clears some old oil crap out, but then dries out completely, and I really like WD40 for this action, if a fan is grimy, use it and wait a day or blow-out or dap-out excess WD40.

The Method That Really Works: DuraLube - TRUST ME An ink syringe or regular syringe with DuraLube use 1 or 2 or 3 drops only, 1 drop is for a near working fan, 2 drops for a lightly dirty or larger fan, 3 drops for an ugly stuck but moving sleeve bearing,

I've used everything including Slick50, Nothing works better than DuraLube on computer Fans and they run one and a half to 3 years longer and whats more amazing is you can do it again on the same fan 3 years later.

Do It - be unsuprised at how you forget that the fan ever had a problem, work really good on Fridge fans.

Now I need a way to do this for fans without holes, if anyone knows a definitive way, please let us know.

Tom Holt
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