[SLUG] When the oil hits the fan, what happens?

[john at johnallsopp.co.uk]

> Yup - a nice easy fix and a way of breathing life into a groaning fan.
>
> You will need :-
>
> Stuff to remove the fan with (screwdriver etc.)
> Decent quality black tape (or whatever colour you like really - the
> oil
> isn't fussy!)
> White spirit or meths
> 3-in-1 or other relatively heavy oil.
> A cloth / cotton buds and a paintbrush
>
> Remove the fan. Use a paint brush to get all the dust and crap off the
> fan
> and give it a quick wipe over with a cloth with a smidge of white
> spirit on.
>
> Find the sticker in the centre of the fan where you would expect to
> find the
> bearing. Remove it.
>
> The fan is generally held onto the spindle with a small plastic
> circlip.
> Make sure this is properly on the spindle - if not, use a small
> screwdriver
> to pop it on.
>
> Put one drop of oil VERY CAREFULLY into the bearing making sure you
> don't
> get it on the surrounding plastic. You might find it easier to use a
> cocktail stick or something.
>
> Turn the fan round a couple of times by hand which gets the oil
> settled into
> the bearing.
>
> Wipe round the surrounding plastic from where you removed the sticker
> with a
> cloth / cotton bud and a little bit of white spirit.
>
> Pop on a new bit of tape and press down firmly
>
> Voila - quiet fan!
>
> Seriously, it is a quick easy fix and if done properly will give you a
> good
> couple of years more life from your fan. Don't use a light oil like
> WD40 as
> it doesn't lubricate the bearing as effectively.
>
> Hope that helps
>
> Rob the Bodge

Fantastic, that helped!

To be honest, with my level of electronics skills, I didn't think I'd
be able to do (even) this without messing things up, so I thought I'd
just buy a replacement fan. Quaytec shrugged and mumbled at the age of
the CPU (a Celeron 400MHz Socket 370 slot 1 on a riser, if I've got
all that correct), but found something that would fit.

It didn't. It looked like it would, but it took all my strength to try
to fit it .. I actually bust my back doing it, and I thought "if this
screwdriver slips". Remarkably, I was doing this after a couple of
glasses of wine.

Having slept on it, I decided to try your method and, ahem, it worked
a treat. The only amendment I'd make to your instructions is that it's
the sticker underneath the fan you want to remove. I removed the one
on top first .. there's no benefit in that :-) I also used gaffa tape
to re-seal it.

Fantastic, thanks for those detailed instructions.

Best regards
J