Lubricating case fan

[Xesh]

My case fan is really loud. Used to be that my CPU and northbridge fans were very loud too, but i've replaced the CPU and mobo, so now the case fan is the only remaining source of annoyance, and i have no idea how to lubricate it! it's a Protechnic Magic fan which came with the case, and underneath the sticker are four small holes: through two, I can see a PCB, and through the other two, just plastic. any ideas? thanks in advance!

 

[dc5]

is there a rubber seal under the sticker?

 

[Xesh]

there's a dark circle in the middle slightly raised above the rest, but it seems to be plastic, not rubber. it also doesn't appear removable.

 

[Xesh]

also, there's quite a bit of dust... i've cleaned off most of the stuff on the outside, but i think some has gotten into worse places. does the fan blade assembly come off?

 

[wisdomtooth]

Do yourself a favor. Get rid of that monstrosity and buy yourself a case fan that is easy to maintain and quiet. Like a Panasonic Panaflo L1A.

HTH.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

Originally posted by: Xesh
there's a dark circle in the middle slightly raised above the rest, but it seems to be plastic, not rubber. it also doesn't appear removable.

that's the one, it's likely silicon, it's safe to pry it up with a small (#0) flat head screw driver, then apply 1 drop of machine oil. I'd suggest this only as a stop gap, you should replace the fan.

 

[Xesh]

it doesn't pry off; there's no gap between the raised part and the rest. i think it's two pieces of plastic melted together. if it's removable, i can't see where to start.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'm not familiar with the fan, so I can't help there. Every other fan I've seen has a flexible black-plastic or rubber plug under the label.

I use a Teflon grease that comes in a tube. Some have predicted "disaster" and imagine a rain of grease droplets infecting my CPU heatsink and motherboard, drawing dust like a dead bunny draws flies. But it hasn't happened.