What Lube for Video Card Fan?

P

pirateface

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 21, 2002
Messages
336
4 months ago or so, my fan on my Hercules 9800pro HSF started to stick, as it was spinning slower and was making a bit of a noise. The Fan isn't gunked in dust or anything I clean my case every month or two. The Fan is basically lubeless.

I've since then have put a few drops of DW40 and tape'ed up the seal and it has been working fine, but it seems to only be a temporary solution as I've lubed it up just now for the 3rd time in the last 4 months.

I was wondering what kind of lube I should be using for a longer run, such as a greese or something.
 
i always use white lithium grease to lube my fans. you can buy a tube of it for a few dollars at any auto parts store. after using it on fans, bearings, etc, i have never had to replace it. works great, just pack it in full.
 
Deadpool9 said:
i always use white lithium grease to lube my fans. you can buy a tube of it for a few dollars at any auto parts store. after using it on fans, bearings, etc, i have never had to replace it. works great, just pack it in full.
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Whoa, nice.

I Googled White Lithium Grease and I got a pdf file which describled it as:

Product Description:
WHITE LITHIUM GREASE is a creamy-white lubricant made with high quality base oil, lithium soap and non-abrasive basic oxides. Mild E.P. anti-wear additives provide additional protection and longer bearing life. It has excellent pumpability characteristics, good shear stability and does not harden or soften readily under moderately high temperature.
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Thanks, I'll give this a try.
 
yeah, hard to beat lithium grease. its also FDA approved, lol. i use this stuff on medical parts we build at work. you can make it thin enough that it is invisible, and still provide lubrication.
 
I've never lubricated any of my fans, but the first thing that came to mind was graphite. Has anyone tried that?
 
Did you contact Hercules to see if they could get you a replacement fan?
 
Contact the City Commerce of San Fransico California. They would appear to have the most knowledge on lubricants.
 
Lithium grease is used to lube up high performance motorcycle parts as well. Specifically the bearings on the wheels.
 
mbmadness said:
I've never lubricated any of my fans, but the first thing that came to mind was graphite. Has anyone tried that?
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I tried it in AC and DC fans and it doesn't work very well.
 
yeah, I've used extra virgin olive oil too on several occasions.

it quiets the fans down temporarily but I've still had most of those same fans die after a certain amount of time. Ex: my Abit NB cooler fan. Lubed it up twice with olive oil, the 3rd time it was still too noisy so I replaced it all together.

"huha, I said virgin."
"shut up beavis"
 
You don't oil a bearing, you grease them.

WD-40 or other oils are not meant to function at higher temps (produced from the constant friction around a bearing). It will burn up and make whatever grease is left on the bearings useless.

Think about it like this, oil=low speed lube, grease=high speed lube.
 
Phoenix86 said:
You don't oil a bearing, you grease them.

WD-40 or other oils are not meant to function at higher temps (produced from the constant friction around a bearing). It will burn up and make whatever grease is left on the bearings useless.

Think about it like this, oil=low speed lube, grease=high speed lube.
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So if I masterbate very rapidly(high speed) would white lithium grease be better than baby oil(for low speed spanking)?
 
chrisf6969 said:
So if I masterbate very rapidly(high speed) would white lithium grease be better than baby oil(for low speed spanking)?
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Come on guy.....grow up. There are plenty of other forums out there for this kind of stuff.....but I think I speak for a good number of us here when I say that this is NOT one of those forums.
 
pxc said:
Computer fans come oiled. Take one apart and look.
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Sure, but oil breaks down at higher temps and over time, like in your car (higher temps, and higher quality oil, hmm wonder if motor oil is any good?). If you want to change the oil like you do in your car, otherwise a good light grease should be better. You don't have to re-grease things nearly as often, generally only when you open them. A good oil (which extra virgin olive oil may be) would do fine, but WD40 isn't that type of oil (why I bothered mentioning oil/grease).

Oil will be better in the short run, because it's more fluid, but you probably have to apply it frequently. How often do you have to re-apply the extra virgin olive oil?
 
Phoenix86 said:
Oil will be better in the short run, because it's more fluid, but you probably have to apply it frequently.
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Theoretically we should just be able to leave it at that....but I just KNOW someone else is gonna think differently. :rolleyes: :p
 
That's ok, it's people thinking differently that spurns invention... and morons... but sometimes inventions! :D
 
cornelious0_0 said:
Come on guy.....grow up. There are plenty of other forums out there for this kind of stuff.....but I think I speak for a good number of us here when I say that this is NOT one of those forums.
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I agree wholeheartedly. Thinking of some other guy spanking it just ruins it for me ;)
 
Phoenix86 said:
Oil will be better in the short run, because it's more fluid, but you probably have to apply it frequently. How often do you have to re-apply the extra virgin olive oil?
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Never. My refrigerator/freezer fan has been running over 2 years since i gave it the olive oil lube job. The 80mm case fan has been running for months. Another small fan I use on chipsets was oiled over a year ago.
 
pxc said:
Never. My refrigerator/freezer fan has been running over 2 years since i gave it the olive oil lube job. The 80mm case fan has been running for months. Another small fan I use on chipsets was oiled over a year ago.
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Not bad... I guess we know why popeye likes me olive oil!
 
hmm, remember all those commercial about all those healthy unsaturated fatty acids in olive oil? Guess what happens to those over time. They start to oxidize and couple into larger molecules. First that's good, it makes grease out of oils. But at some point it makes a rather large polymeric network generally known as varnish. That's when you toss whatever you gave the olive (or any other biologically based liquid oil for that matter) lube job. I strongly recommend flushing that olive crap out with WD40, then add some appropriate oil (fine machine oil for sawing machines works wonders on tiny bearings without grease nipples).
 
chrisf6969 said:
yeah, I've used extra virgin Olive Oil too on several occasions.
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I figured that Popeye had already taken care of her. ;)
I guess not if she's still "Extra Virgin". :p















Seriously though, White Lithium Grease is the stuff!! I've never tried it on noisey fans though. Might have to give it a try.
 
Ive been using Trinity Royal Oil on my ball bearings in my RC cars for years... Its a very light oil that really lubes well. Lithium just feels to thick to me but I got a couple squeeky 80mm fans around here to test on.
 
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