What lubricants can be safely added to a laptop fan?

Question

I've got a fan in a laptop that occasionally makes some loud airplane-like noises. It mostly happens about 10 seconds after booting up and lasts for 10-20 seconds.

It also occasionally happens when the computer is running, but very rarely. Interestingly, it does not seem to happen when the processor is being used heavily.

The laptop does not have a discrete graphics card.

The fan is clean.

I'm not sure if the laptop is under warranty, but I trust my own skills much more than I trust the manufacturer (or the shipper).

Before I search for a matching fan and replace it, I thought I would see if it is safe to try any lubricants.

Are there any lubricants that are safe to use inside a laptop?

I don't want a fire or anything that will splatter and cause conductivity issues within the circuitry.

Answer 1

If you are hearing noises, it's already way too late. The bearings are worn and allowing the fan to shift its axis slightly, causing rubbing that wears the bearings more. Adding lubricants can make the problem better for a short period of time by filling the space around the worn parts of the bearings, reducing the fan's ability to shift temporarily. But very soon the lubricant will get squeezed out and the fan axis will shift again. Replace the fan.

Answer 2

One tried and true lubricant is sewing machine oil. Sewing machine oil is designed to work well with parts that move at high speeds, which is exactly what your computer fans are.

What David Schwartz said is mostly correct. By the time a fan is tilted/wearing on bearings, the fan's days are numbered. But if you can catch it quickly, you can prolong the life of the fan for quite a while.

Here's a little tutorial on how to go about it.

It's a bit too long to copy/paste it all over into an SE answer, but here's the gist:

1. The center of your fan has a sticker. Remove the sticker. When removing the sticker, be sure to be extra careful. You want to place the sticker back on the fan later, so it needs to remain intact.
2. Underneath the sticker is a little rubber 'plug'. Under the plug is a little metal cylinder (most of which you can't see). This metal cylinder is made of a porous metal.
3. Drop one and only one drop of oil on the visible part of the cylinder.
4. Put the plug back in place.
5. Put the sticker back in place.
6. After you turn the computer back on and the fan whirrs into life, it might take a little bit of time for the oil to distribute.

Desktop fans are replaced easily enough (they're all pretty cheap), but since you mentioned this is a laptop - which often have unique/hard-to-find components - a replacement might not be feasible. So sewing machine oil might be your best bet.

Answer 3

I had a laptop fan that was noisy. I opened it up and cleaned the axle with some alcohol. I then used a needle dipped with alcohol to clean the slot/shaft/hole/? where the axle goes. There was some dirt in there that caused the axis of the axle to be slightly off. This caused the blades of the fan to graze the case, causing the noise. Then I used some mineral oil on the shaft and used the needle to get some in the hole. It has been running perfectly for 2 years now. FYI, mineral oil is non conductive. Ive fixed several laptop fans with this method.

Answer 4

My recommendation would be NOT to add ANY lubricant. The computer fans are designed to be serviceless. ANd you definitely don't want anything dripping anything onto anything inside a computer... There are several possibilities as to what is the cause:

1. Fan (or fan/heatsink assembly) is not properly screwed in place and what you hear is harmonic resonance.
2. Computer has been opened and you have a cable that hangs over (or sticks out under) the fan and causes the rattle.
3. Fan is dying and this is it's swan song.

My bet would be on last one, though. If it happens on start and stop only it means that probably it got overheated or damaged at some point and it has deformed from temperature. Had this issue in laptop once - later fan started to cut out after some time and finally failed completely. Warranty job, though.

If there is a crucial need to jump-start or ease the fan's working it is much better idea to pull it out completely, give it a good (but CAREFULL!) compressed air cleaning and give it an alcohol soaking bath (isopropyl alcohol is cheap and is nearly as wondrous substance as WD-40). Dry it afterwards and put back in the machine. If the fan was dirty this should do the trick.

EDIT ON LUBRICATION: Any lubricant that would do anything good needs to be sticky (which means viscosity must be high enough), so that it sticks to the fan (duh.), but not too high so it can penetrate to the spot where it's needed. Since fans are somewhat hi-speed, most of the lubricant will get squeezed back out anyway. That means the dust particles and grit have something to stick also. Normally this is happening mostly due to static charge, so it means you can remove any dirt quite easily with airspray. With lubricant you get caking, which can be, after a while, basically only dissolved to get rid of. So WD-40 time (again) or alcohol bath. And after that lubricate again, since WD-40 is not lubricant, but a solvent. Since you end up with most of the lubricant on the outside, and with that speed it will be very fine mist, it will end up inside the heatsink. And thus more caking and more WD-40. That's why I mention viscosity - adequate oils will have low viscosity, which means above process will take hours; with high viscosity oils fan motor will be more strained spinning the fan, causing said motor to overheat... Higher temperature will lower viscosity of the oil, which will cause it to drain faster. And we're in a 'while-then' loop really... There is a reason why in case of high-rpm systems lubrication is applied to sealed components and it's usually grease.

I'm not saying lubrication is a dumb idea (just touching on mildly stupid), but I would see it as an emergency solution only, not normal usage, and with understanding there will be part replacement sooner than later.

The fact that you can doesn't mean you should. Laptop fans are small, high-speed devices. They are designed without any lubrication whatsoever. So that should give you pause right there. But just to drive the point home - since they're designed that way (and, to boot, this is because they are designed as a dust-proof devices, for obvious reasons), only way to meaningfully lubricate a laptop fan you have to tear it down... Which is another "pause and think before you do it" moment: disassemble a part designed not to be disassembled and then put it back together with something extra added.

Answer 5

I can only tell you my experience with an HP Pavilion laptop. Its fan started making noise like its bearing was bad, I looked online for lubrication tips, but read that nothing would likely work, so ordered a replacement fan, which I installed.

Two months later, the replacement fan started making the same noise. I had kept the OEM fan, and figured I had nothing to lose by trying to fix it. I found a youtube video that showed how to take apart the fan to clean its bearing. Because mine was so dirty, I cleaned it by rinsing it in camp stove fuel, after which it spun freely (had not before and was thick with dusty gunk which the fuel removed). I let it dry, then put it together and it seemed to work, but soon was making the same loud bad bearing noise.

So, I took it apart and put a tiny bit of silicone grease on the pin that is the axle the fan spins on. There are different viscosities of silicone grease. This one was thinner than the plumber's grease type. I got it from a diving supplies shop, and I believe it is intended for lubricating SCUBA gear O ring seals.

After I put on the silicone grease, I reassembled the fan and installed it. When I booted the laptop a warning displayed that there was a problem with the fan (looked like a BIOS warning).

I took it all apart again and looked at the fan's axle pin. I saw I had put a little too much grease on it, and some of the silicone grease had worked its way out of the axle bearing and to the space between the fan and the housing, where it apparently caused enough drag that it triggered the fan warning.

I cleaned off that bit of grease, and wiped a bit of the grease off the axle, leaving some, and put everything back together.

That was well over a month ago and the fan has worked silently since without more warnings. How long it will last I do not know, but it appears to me that cleaning with solvent and lubricating the axle pin with a tiny amount of relatively low viscosity silicone grease is worth trying to fix a failing / noisy laptop fan.

Update. Here we are two months after making my original post and it is still working flawlessly. Update, over a year now and still working flawlessly.

Answer 6

I can't believe all the wrong answers here.

Fans come in two types. Those with plain bearings that have a steal shaft in a bushing made of porous bronze, and those with race bearings - usually ball races.

If the fan has plain bearings and has not been noisy for too long it certainly can be lubricated. The reason these bearings begin to get noisy in the first place is due to a lack of lubrication. The lack of lubrication could come from either not enough being applied in the first place, or it simply evaporated due to excessive heat or time. Yes, all oil is volatile to some extent and all oil will eventually evaporate. These bearings respond well to lubrication and for a small motor like in a laptop fan I'd suggest between a 10-15 weight oil. If it has gone too long such that the bushing is so large the fan begins to slow down after starting then lube will only be a stop-gap. If you get to it quickly (within a couple of days of the noise starting) lubrication could fix the problem for a good deal of time. Just make sure any obstruction in the airflow (dust, fibers, animal hair, etc..) is kept leaned out other wise the heat will get excessive and cause our bearings to dry out again.

As for race bearings, the ones used in such tiny fans are invariably sealed. Even it they weren't, by the time a race bearing starts making noise - it's generally toast.

Answer 7

I have an old Thinkpad t410. Two month ago its fan stopped working. The problem was contamination. I opened it and detached the rotor from the stator. But after cleaning and putting them together, another problem showed up: Noise! After some searching I found that lubricating it may help. But lubrication was not the answer. After many tries and errors, I found the answer! I put the rotor in the stator when the fan was under voltage! and it's working like the day one with no lubrication or anything else. Maybe it's not the case for every one but it's something that should be considered. I think that when we put things together, the router is not aligned in its natural axis and by imposing voltage to the fan during the assembling process, it will find its natural axis.

Answer 8

My fan was making very loud noise, I opened the laptop and saw that the fan was jumping out of it's place and hit the case, mostly because the axle is losing it's vertical axis of rotation (may be the slot/shaft/hole become little loose for the fan axle)

I tried to replace it but I couldn't find any compatible fan with my laptop model :( :(

So I decided to try the oiling/lubricating methods I saw while searching, like @Keltari answer

1. I cleaned the axle with alcohol very gently (to not bend the axle lol)
2. I used a medical shot to drop some drops of alcohol in the hole, and inserted a needle with tissue and cleaned the whole VEEEEERY gently (DON'T tear the tissue and leave parts of it in the hole)
3. I waited about half hour to let alcohol inside the hole to be evaporated
4. I used a "GREASE" that is used in the home big fans at the repair shop , and inserted a very little peace of it in the hole and around the axle

• it's is VERY heavy/thick
• it resists high temperature
• I don't know if it is conductive or not yet :(

it's a week for now and I never heard any noise and the fan is rotating smoothly, I don't know what is going to happen later thought lol.

I will update the answer to tell you if it still working or not, if I didn't update that means it's not working lol

UPDATE 1: yesterday(after 6 months) it made noise again, I cleaned it and repeated same method and it works now smoothly again.

Answer 9

I have used a lubricant that is meant for hair trimmers. They have super fast moving motors. It's not thick at all and drips like water. I am guessing that I could has also used some WD40 as well. It fixed the loud rattling that the HP Pavilion's fan was making. In the mean time, I have ordered a replacement fan as I am not expecting this to be a long term fix.

Thank you all. It's because of this thread that I found the solution that worked for me.

Answer 10

If the fan is noisy, it will be due to poor balance, or faulty/worn bearings, and these things cannot be fixed by adding lubricant.

If you trust your technical skills more than the manufacturer, then buy a replacement fan and install it yourself.

To answer your question directly. There is no type of lubricant that could be safely added to a laptop fan. Any attempt to lubricate the fan would likely spread lubricant everything throughout your laptop.

Answer 11

As others have said, the best solution is to replace the fan. However if this is not possible due to the unavailability of parts, lubrication may help. The best lubricant I have found is semi-synthetic motor oil.

I have an old HP Omen laptop. One of the fan bearings is so worn that it looks slightly oval rather than round. I tried sewing machine oil which helped but the sound recurred after a month or two. Same result with dry silicon lube. Then as a last ditch effort I tried Nulon semi-synthetic 15W-40 motor oil. Noise has not recurred now for well over a year.

The bearings should be cleaned thoroughly with isopropyl or ethyl alcohol (isopropyl is easier to get but ethyl is better if you can get it). When applying the oil use a syringe to apply a single drop to the shaft.

Here's a link for the oil

https://autobarn.com.au/ab/Autobarn-Category/Shop-our-Full-Ranges-by-Brand-%7C-Autobarn/Nulon/Nulon-Semi-Synthetic-15W-40-Modern-Everyday-Engine-Oil-1L---ME15W40-1/p/OA00252

Answer 12

My suggestion to the OP and others are to not use oils like mineral or for sewing machines, or with similar viscosity. They tend to evaporate very fast if the fan is used in warm area. It's better to find MoS₂ based grease, those usually hold to 350°C, have low friction and used in aviation and cars (and in my bicycle obviously). Just clean the axle and axle's bed, put some of this grease in it, reassemble the fan again and profit. If you want to be more precise, then check and the internal resistance of the fan, higher than usual means faulty winding (for reference can use another from the same model or with the same rpm/amps). The other thing to measure is the amps going through it - a much higher amps are also no go

Answer 13

Don't, it's shot. Order a new one.

Computer fans typically use sealed fluid dynamic bearings, so it's not possible to lubricate them anyway. You'd just be oiling the windings and magnet, creating a big mess and a dust trap.