Fix noisy computer fans with a drop of oil

By Greg Shultz, TechRepublic, 3 June, 2003 11:01

Topics

Oil, cooling fan, fix fan, noisy fan, noisy laptop, noisy pc, oil fan, squeeking, whurring

ANALYSIS

When a user complains to you that his or her computer is making a loud whirring noise, there are really only two types of components that can make that type of noise: disk drives and cooling fans. A problem with either type of component could spell disaster.

But in most cases, you'll discover that the noise is being generated by one of the cooling fans inside the computer. Most computers have three cooling fans, one inside the power supply, one on the case itself, and one on the CPU. Of course, each of these cooling fans is designed to keep the whole system as cool as possible by generating a constant airflow inside the case that will bring cool air in while moving the hot air out. If any of these cooling fans fails, the system could overheat and cause data loss. So your first inclination might be to just replace the noisy fan. While doing so is a fairly easy operation, it's not always necessary. In many cases, the fan, like the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz, needs only a drop of oil.

Choosing your oil
As you read the introduction to this article, the first question on your mind was probably, "What kind of oil should you use?" And, that's actually a very good question, because using the wrong kind of oil can have adverse effects.

To begin with, let me say: You shouldn't use WD-40 on a computer fan! Many folks use WD-40 to lubricate all kinds of squeaky or noisy mechanical components around the home and office. In fact, WD-40 is such a great multi-purpose problem solver that you might assume that you can quiet a noisy computer fan with a quick spray of WD-40. However, that's not the case.

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The reason that you shouldn't use WD-40 on a computer fan is that while it is indeed a lubricant it's mainly designed as a cleaner/degreaser, that loosens stuck parts, prevents corrosion, and displaces water-obviously not the types of problems found in computer cooling fans. Furthermore, it's a light lubricant that is better for lubricating something like a hinge that only moves occasionally rather than a component that moves continuously and at high speeds such as a computer fan.

That said; what type of oil should you use? Well almost any lightweight mechanical oil, such as 3-in-1 household oil, will do just fine.

I prefer to use sewing machine oil, because, in addition to being a lightweight oil, it has excellent viscosity, holds up well at high temperatures, and is specifically designed to lubricate moving parts that operate at high speeds. You can pick up a tube of sewing machine oil at almost any sewing machine dealer or even at a fabric store for about £2 to £3.

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Talkback

Read this with interest as I cured a noisy fan a few months ago in similar fashion.

However, I used Slick50 in the aerosol form - it's a "dry" lubricant - adding just a few drops after opening up the fan's cover.

I would have preferred to use Redex but didn't have any at the time.

The fan's been working effortlessly and quietly ever since.

Kind regards
Stuart Isenberg

4 December, 2003 13:31 Reply

dear sir.
my graphics card is a "msi geforce ti 4200 128 mb ddr.
this has become noisy when starting up from cold.then it quitens down & the computer case will sometimes feel hot.
what type of oil should i use.
thankyou.
neil
happy new year.

7 January, 2004 10:54 Reply

Great article.

This was exactly what I needed. My power supply fan had stopped working due to dust getting clogged up within among other things... all things said and done with this very very useful tip I was able to clean and griese the fan and now it is working in tip top shape.

Mucho gracias.

31 October, 2004 06:32 Reply

An excellent article, but for one small omission. Greg tells us that the computer can have three fans - case, processor and transformer. It wasn't until I read Neil. A Davy's comment that I realised that a video card can also have its own fan, usually well hidden. In other words, my computer has not three, but four fans. (A fan club?) Having oiled the first three as instructed I was still experiencing a dreadful whining and was ready to throw the entire devil's contraption out of the window. Thanks to Neil, that won't be necessary!

8 January, 2005 14:00 Reply

You can easilly fix a noisy fan temporaly by pulling it gently out of it's axis. The oil will then spread again on all of the parts.

8 February, 2005 20:48 Reply

This was great!!! I was pulling my hair out for days over my noisy machine. Using this article (and I am not a computer innards guru) I fixed the problem easily with no trip to my local pompous socially inept computer guy! Thank you.

24 February, 2005 20:11 Reply

I am so glad I found this article while I was shopping for a new fan! I DID use WD-40 the day before I read this, but only used a little, so no harm done. Diagram was very helpful and 1 drop of light machine oil did the trick!! Thanks.

28 February, 2005 01:11 Reply

Thanks for the tip. Had a fan slowing down and stopping on agp card. Asus supplied a new fan which worked for afew months and then quit. I tried your lube tip on the old fan. Its running like a charm. I have noise on another computer but didn't know how to lubricate. Your illustrations show the same fan as mine. I can't wait to get at that one now. Thanks.

14 March, 2005 04:24 Reply

I was looking through cooling fan adverts to replace two noisy fans and came across this item on how to oil them. I was a little cynical at first but decided to try it which was a very simple job with the instructions supplied and guess what ? two very quiet fans with slightly increased revs., two degrees lower temperature and above all, beautiful silent running.
Good on you Greg

13 April, 2005 14:27 Reply

Thank you! You don't know how many people I have been asking for help, with out any. Great with pictures to illustrtate

24 September, 2005 23:02 Reply

I did as the article stated,but my computer is still noisy as ever.It actually hurts my ears.
I guess I need new fans.My hardrive is noisy as Hell,too.

27 September, 2005 05:44 Reply

BRILLIANT! My computer was as loud as a lawn mower. Thanks to your advice and a drop of mountain-bike chain lube the machine once again quietly purrs.

27 November, 2005 20:46 Reply

Thanks a lot! I did according to the suggestion, it works perfectly !

7 December, 2005 00:33 Reply

Really great description and pictures

29 December, 2005 00:02 Reply

this is tells how to fix the problem it is a fan but not a disk drive. Could you tell me how to fix the disk drive to my email addres

15 January, 2006 15:23 Reply

Great article! Sure saved me a few dollars and has worked well for one of the two fans that had stopped working.

15 January, 2006 23:33 Reply

That worked awesome!!! Thanks so much for the advice...she's purring like a kitten again. I was a bit unsure of what kind of oil to use so I ended up going to my husband's electric hair trimmer kit and got the little bottle of oil out of that and it worked like a charm!! Thanks again.

14 February, 2006 20:27 Reply

Article was right on !!!
Dell Dimension 2400, just under 2 years old.

I could not isolate the noise. I first cleaned out the dust and then oiled the main cooling fan as indicated. This did not solve the problem. I then noticed that front opening where the hard drive is stored was clogged with dust. Cleaned that out.

Also at that time i thought the fan on the PNY GeForce Fx5200 graphics card could be making the noise. I removed the card, then its independent fan, and oiled it. Sure enough my computer was barely making any noise at all.

THANKS !!!
David C

19 February, 2006 17:17 Reply

The article was very helpful indeed. I've been having problems with my MB fan. I've got ABIT IC7-G and its fan (on the north bridge) has become very noise recently (80% of the time PC was on). Also its rpm fall (during those noisy times) from 2270 down to 270. So I figured I needed to oil it. But upon peeling the sticker back I discovered there was no plug to remove (I couldn't access the lubrication well). So I used the syringe instead (yeah). Well, I must have injected more than just one drop of oil - it solved the noise and rotation rate problem, but left me with yet another one on my hands: when I start the PC this fan just refuses to rotate (resulting in 10 or so phrenetic restarts, finger intervention, etc.) So I have to keep the case open at all times (a real drag).

11 March, 2006 09:38 Reply

FANTASTIC TIP!!!! my computer sounds like its a new one and its 7yrs old!! took me 20 mins power supply fan was a bit awkward but hey
W.T.H.

20 March, 2006 09:03 Reply

PS I used sewing machine oil!

20 March, 2006 09:06 Reply

This was awesome!!! Even a "non-tech" person, such as myself, was able to do this and best part... NO MORE NOISE!!! Thanks!

18 July, 2006 00:30 Reply

This is an absolutely brilliant tutorial that can be followed by the complete novice which is how it should be. Excellently written and superb supporting pictures. This is quality and professional. There's only one thing to say: THANK YOU!

eddcase 1 November, 2006 10:35 Reply

great thanks for the insight

Trust me i can help 5 January, 2007 11:00 Reply

I have a 5 year old system, (I tend to use computers until they fall apart). The CPU fan started to get noisy in only in the first minute of boot. Upon opening the case, there was quite a dust farm in there. I inspected and removed the CPU fan, finding it did have some bearing wear as it had a tiny bit of side movement. The heatsink was pretty well plugged up with dust, in which I proceeded to remove the dust. I put a drop of oil in the hole under the sticker of the fan before replacing it. I then removed the all that dust out of th case before putting it back together. The fan has held up quite a while that way so far.

jason_m 7 January, 2007 01:58 Reply

I had noise from the fan for almost a week, I opened the case and vacuumed the dust 2 days ago but the noise stayed the same.

I knew I had to buy a new fan, but I said I will try Google and see if anyone has an advice. I read the article and to be honest at first I was suspicious that Oil will solve the problem but I said I will give it a try the noise was extremely awful.

Anyway, the only oil I have is Olive oil but as I was desperate I tried it and it worked great. Now no more noise. The oil hungry fan was the video cards, the smallest fan but sure made a lot of noise, size does not matter overall.

Thanks a lot for the great article, and please advice on the use of olive oil.

kais 2 March, 2007 07:07 Reply

Its better to get bigger fans with smaller revs, this means it will spin slow yet keep the system cool :)

senaka76 21 May, 2007 22:07 Reply

I saw that you posted a message about noisy computer fans and thought you might be interested in what I found:

Do a search for a product called 'FanLube'. It is a high quality silicone lubricant that is specially formulated for noisy computer fans. It worked wonders for my noisy laptop fan! And their website has a demo video and pix to show you how to apply it. Also FAQs to explain why other oils like sewing machine oil, 3-in-one and WD-40 are not suitable.

Ceejay 16 January, 2008 15:57 Reply

Excellent tip! It worked for me, with a small variation. In this case, I needed to reduce the noise from a graphic card fan, and I needed to take the fan away from the card, and disamble the fan itself, removing the stickers from both sides of the fan. Then I used WD-40 to clean the axis, while pushing in and out the axis. Finally, I lubricated with sewing machine oil, and again, push forth and back the metal axis. It reduced the fan noise about 90%... Great! No need to replace the card. Thank you for the idea.

alphabravotango 1 April, 2010 23:02 Reply

IMPORTANT POINT FOR ANYONE ONSIDERING THIS

Firstly, this worked WONDERS for me, my pc sounded like a vacume, but now its sounds like cat purring, but i should point out a serious error i made so no one else makes it, if your pc fan dosen't have a cap on its end when you peel off the back sticker, be very very sure NOT to put oil anywhere on the surface where the sticker is, otherwise you will NOT be able to re-stick the sticker, and the oil will run out and all over your pc.

Shadowgaz 3 May, 2010 15:57 Reply

Excellent post! I never new about the rubber plug in the back of the fan, I just assumed the fan bearings were sealed at the factory. Thanks!!

apexwm 4 May, 2010 13:52 Reply

My PC sounded like a bag of nails. Having followed the instructions above it now has a lovely smooth hummmmmm. Brilliant advise ! Thankk you!

aston 10 July, 2010 15:09 Reply

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