Broken tire air compressor, small electric motor whines

[ArmchairAthlete]

Not a car thread for The Garage, but a thread about something I use for my car/bike!

Anyone have one of those little electric air compressors you use to inflate tires die on you? Mine was this one or very similar, not that old:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...pf_rd_i=507846

I should probably just toss it and buy a new one, but I was curious since it shows some signs of life when you flip the switch. I have an adapter so I can plug it into a wall socket to test it. I took it apart to see what was up. The little eletric motor lets out a continual whine when turned on, and spins just a very tiny bit when you flip the switch before stopping. There isn't something physical blocking the rotation, there's a little wheel on one end of the motor that you can freely grab and rotate around yourself fairly easily.

Anyone know what would cause a small electric motor to fail like this?

 

[mfenn]

Wrong kind of GH. You'll probably have better luck posting this in OT.

 

[Paperdoc]

Most common cause of such failures is bearings going dry or wearing out. You could try putting a VERY small bit of very light oil on the exposed end of each bearing on the motor, then turn it by hand gently to work the oil into the bearing. If it's just dry this will help it run for a while. But once the bearings wear out, there is no real way to repair. At that point, chuck it and buy a new unit.