I was wondering, Do Phantom 3 motor shaft bearings require lubrication, or are the shaft bearings sealed?

Hi, there. Thank you for your query to us and we do apologize for the inconvenience. Unfortunately, This concern is being handled by our repair facility team and we didn't recommend applying any lubrication on the motor of the DJI Phantom 3 series drone since there is a possibility that it will void the warranty. Thank you for your kind and understanding. Have a good one.

I wouldn't lubricate anything.  The phantoms require no routine maintenance.

ALABAMA Posted at 5-28 15:51
I wouldn't lubricate anything.  The phantoms require no routine maintenance.

Thanks for your reply. I seems like one of the four Phantom motors makes more noise than the others. Maybe this is typical?

With normal use - there should be no need to lub.

There is a misconception about the bearings used - they are NOT sealed bearings. They are SHIELDED bearings.

Virtually all Brushless motors use shielded ... there are odd that use sealed and they would usually be IN-runners.....

Its a topic that has its followers in the Yes and No camps.

If you do decide to lub - then please do not use a medium or heavy oil. Its useless. It needs to be a light oil such as Sewing Machine Oil or LCO as we call it in the business.  You can only lub the rear bearing on these motors and thats by unbolting and tilting motor as much as leads allow ... use a toothpick to apply a drop to the shaft and let it run down the shaft to the shield ... spin motor by hand while still inverted...

It works.

Noisy motors do not always mean end of life - despite some claims. There may be some grit got into the motor and blowing out may dislodge ... having flown in dusty environment .. many reasons that blowing out or lub can in fact solve.

I have various BL motors and I include my Phantom - that have had the LCO treatment and the motors run sweet as new ... some of them are many years old and the single application was enough.

But I will agree - that because a Phantom relies 100% on motors to stay in the air .. it cannot glide ... then if a motor is questionable - replace it. You could try my suggestion and see what happens .. but take care and be safe.

Something that might help if you're concerned about the noisy motor is to touch it with your fingers at the end of a flight and then compare the warmth to the other three motors.  You could also use one of those laser temp deals.  

I've had noisy motors at times but they never seemed to get too hot, so I did nothing other than try to be sure no debris was inside it - I've never had one quit during flight.  In my experience, the motors and/or ESCs only quit during or just after a crash.  

Good luck

Something that might help if you're concerned about the noisy motor is to touch it with your fingers at the end of a flight and then compare the warmth to the other three motors.  You could also use one of those laser temp deals.  

Good comment ... agree.  The usual reason for temp increase is bearings worn out.

I did have a couple of times on my P3P odd motor run warm .. one time was actually more than warm. Turned out to be dust ... blew it out ... and all fine.

Brushless motors are of such design that they can run for years unlike brushed ...