Repair your noisy CPU and system fans

Great!
I hope more and more people see this and save themselves a lot of money. Especially with video cards. So often i read that the fan on their video card died and they couldnt find a replacement or the replacement cost so much. Quite often the video card fan can be repaired like you did yours. I know that i have repaired quite a few video card fans and some of these video cards cost $200, $300, and more, yet they have fans that wear out pretty fast.
Now there is a fix. I dont like to say that all fans can be repaired but i can say that i have repaired dozens of fans and i havent come across one that i couldnt repair, but i am sure there are some out there, especially the situation where the fan has been running and noisy for a long time in that condition. There is always the chance that the fan is just too far gone already. Sooner or later that will happen as my method is meant to work when a fan just recently becomes noisy, not when its simply too far gone.
Its nice to hear from people who try this and get their video card and other fans back running as they should!

I should point out, and i think i did in my original post, but if not, you can get powdered graphite at any auto parts store, most hardware stores and most big box stores. I dont suggest getting the liquid graphite as i find it too watery, get the powdered graphite because it has the highest concentration of graphite and its the graphite that works long term, not the oil, oil only works on a short term basis and eventually dissipates with heat.
Be careful not to overpay, the places i have mentioned are the places that sell it for just a couple dollars. Sooner or later the computer stores might start selling it but they might up the price, so go to the auto stores and get it cheap.

This is another matter altogether, but i have heard that you can go to auto stores and buy thermal grease real cheap as well. I havent tried that so i cant say anything about it one way or the other, just that i have heard people say that it works just fine on cpu's and such.

Hi Nork,

another update. Back on 8/31, I updated that I had to clean the clay out the fan and i was buying dry graphite. I cleaned and applied oil/graphite the next day. It seemed fine until 9/11 when I heard the fan again so I cleaned it better with a cotton swab and a few drops of oil. I did it twice. When clean I applied the dry graphite to three small drops of oil from a needle oil applicator and mixed it with a paper clip. It is definitely quieter than before and cooler too.

Great! I hope it works out for you and i hope that the clay is out of the fan workings.

I just put a very very small amount of oil in between the blades or wherever i feel the best spot is, sometimes its right near the coil. The point is that you want some oil and graphite to get in between the plastic and metal and sink down deep. I dont know the terminology of the parts, lol. Then i just "puff" in the graphite. The word "puff" is used because when you squeeze on the graphite powder it indeed comes out in a puff. Its a bit hard to control, thats why i mentioned in my original post to be careful, especially if the graphite gets on your clothes. To get graphite off anything but clothes use varsol or turpentine. To get graphite off clothes use the commercial products that you apply to spots on your clothes, that is your best chance, that i know of, to get the stain out.

Great Tut... NIce ..

Hey Nork,
I think using pencil "lead" was a really bad idea. The fan made noise again on 13-Dec-2009 so I cleaned the fan assembly, rotor and stator and reapplied oil/graphite again. This fix lasted 4 months. Maybe it will last longer after this time since each time I clean, I remove more clay. My fan vents were clogged up after 4months too. I'm thrilled to have a process to clean & revive my cooling system without spending money.

ya, the pencil lead is totally different from the graphite powder with the powder being much more refined so that its very slippery.
One nice thing is that i have used this method on a few fans on a few $300 and $400 video cards that were out of warranty. Saves a ton of money and keeps the cards out of the landfills. Whenever i do things i try and save, repair, re-use, whatever method i can employ to keep things out of the landfills. Furniture is SO easy to stain or paint, especially stain, and can so easily be made to look nice again. Its just that some people just dont realize they can do it, and cheaply too.
But thats another thread, lol.
On with the graphite powder!!
You know, i am getting emails from around the world on this graphite trick. Its really amazing how many people have read this and how many have taken the time to let me know they tried it, and, of course, it worked for them.
thanks

I need to change out my danger den hs for my 295gtx in the next few days. Before I measured the fan db @ 39db while at 100%. Before I change out my water loop ill try graphite with the stock fan and see what happens.

I've been repairing all types of fans for years, so after reading all of the success stories, I was eager to try this out for myself. I went and bought some Victor Graphite Lubricant; for more information, here's a link to it on Amazon:
amazon.com/gp/product/B003T2A970
although I got mine locally at an auto parts store.

I put a drop of 30 weight mineral oil and an equal amount of this graphite powder into two different ball bearing type CPU fans and they spin ok, but they now make a scratchy sort of sound, as though I had added sand to the oil. I've let them run for at least 1/2 hour and it hasn't improved. Is this the wrong type of graphite? Any other recommendations?

Thanks

Yes! Thanks for then info! The fan of my auntie's pc is like super noisy. Thanks!

Can you repair a laptop fan w/o removing it?

The CPU fan in my HP HDX18 starting chattering yesterday. According to the service manual, replacement requires removal of practically everything from the case, including the system board.

Do you have any suggestions for lubricating or otherwise helping it *without* removing it from the case?

Thanks!

Worked great! Been looking for a solution for a long while! Thanks

Tjpab - glad it worked. It will work with about 99% of fans. I have repaired some fans that almost wouldnt even turn. I have had some video cards mailed to me, repaired them and sent them back, one all the way to Great Britain!

DanielWilson - Sorry, im not here a lot and i didnt see your post. Some fans can be repaired without them leaving the case. The trick is getting at the round sticker, lifting it up and getting a wee bit of oil and a fair amount of powdered graphite in that hole you see after lifting the sticker. If you can do that while the fan is in the machine then all the better. If not you will have to take it out to repair it. In the case of a notebook theses fans are not that hard to get to but in most cases it does involve talking off the back cover of the notebook.


Best to pm me with any problems regarding fans so i can answer right away and then you can post the results here so others will see.

If a person goes to an automotive story and gets graphite powder and uses a small amount of any light oil and does it as per my instructions then its almost a guarantee your fan will be quiet once again.
I have to say that i have likely repaired close to 50 fans myself by now and i can only guess how many people have read this and done their own repairs. No matter what anyone says i know it works 99% of the time.
thanks

oil?

Any specific kind of oil? Would air tool oil work or is it too thin?

Hi,
I wanted to try this on my graphicscard fan, when I unmounted the fan from the metal cooler and peeled off the stickers, I noticed there wasn't any hole or seal covering a hole. The backside of the fan just shows plastic and near the sides a few openings where you can see parts of the internal circuit board.
So here I am wondering on how to open up this fan, as there doesn't seem to be a way to reach the motor (at first sight).

Thx for your advice

JakeMandragoran

Sorry, i didnt get notification of your post. Its hard to find the correct spot in the situation you are talking about. What i do is put the oil and the graphite under that circuit board. I know you are hesitant about it but thats what i do. Also, sometimes you can gently lift the fan top off and separate the fan. In your situation its trial and error. But i havent yet ruined one of those and i have put the oil and graphite in and around those circuit boards with no problem. Sometimes it doesnt fix the prob but it hasnt ever made it worse for me. So, unless its some weird one of a kind fan i would just go ahead and try it and you may post back with success!
.
Before others start posting about how bad it is to get oil or graphite on the circuit board, i dont reccommend it but as a last resort i have done it and either got satisfactory results or no results, never ruined a fan. Again, try putting oil and graphite under or around that circuit board.
Please, no posts about how harmful this is, its not.

mailpup

Right on. As i said in my tutorial just about any light oil will do as its only a carrier for the graphite. You dont really even need oil but oil does help the process go quicker and better.
I have posted this tutorial of mine on different sites. I have had oh, maybe 100 replies where my method worked. Maybe one or two where it didnt.
I have repaired fans that were about ready to seize right up and if i recall correctly even fixed seized fans, but this is over a long period of time so my memory may not be perfect, lol. Im not getting younger. But it does work for most people. Just read some of the replies here where it worked for them. And, again, i have put oil under and around where those little circuit boards are and never had a problem where the oil or graphite caused arcing or anything similar. Either it worked or it didnt work is all.

You're very welcome.
Again, just about any oil will do as alll i really use the oil for is to carry the graphite powder around to make sure the job goes well. Use very small amount of oil, 2 drops.
And, again, dont use anything but graphite powder. I find that the graphite oil you can buy is too thin for this job, almost like water, just doesnt do the job.
And again, but a good point. Where you cant really see the spot where the oil and graphite powder must go, try and find it. Sometimes you can lift the fan piece up a bit or even out. First make sure you lift the seal, thats the best place, but sometimes there isnt a hole there. It's up to you but i have even just put oil and graphite powder nearby one of those little boards that you sometimes see. I figure theres no harm done if the fan is really bad and unusable the way it is!

I hope to hear more replies from people who have used this little trick successfully!
I dont always get the email notification that i should, but thats another thread,lol.
But i dont ignore it when i get a notification.

My gpu fan has been rattling like crazy for a months now. I had to re-oil it every couple of weeks to make it not rattle but I got tired of disassembling it and tried some graphite powder. Man I thought at first it wasn't going to work because it was still rattling even louder than before... but 30 minutes later it stopped! I applied the powder directly into the ball bearing themselves with some radio shack precision lubricator oil. The bearing still make noise at certain RPMs but if it's quiet at idle that's good enough for me. The graphite powder i bought didn't really look powdery it was more liek very fine sand. I thought ti was going to look like flour.

Glad it worked for you. I would suggest you put more graphite in it and you might find that it will help even more. And maybe dont add any more oil, just the graphite. If that doesnt work then maybe add a touch of oil. Again, the old only helps distribute the graphite. Course im not where you are so i dont know how much you already put there and the exact fan and assembly system.
Yes, the graphite could look a little sandy but rub some between your fingers and you will see how smooth your fingers glide. The "sandiness" goes away as soon as the graphite particles rub against each other i suspect.
Im just really glad i took the time to write this up in the first place because so many people have tried my method and i havent had a complaint yet, it works and works well. Course there is always gonna be that one fan that is too far gone, too badly damaged or worn for even the graphite to cure it.