Air Conditioning - Fan / Compressor won't start PLS Help

First a little history -

Last week my compressor / fan would continue to run after the blower had shut down when the inside of my house reached the desired temperature.

Reading the forum suggested that it might be a contactor problem. I had a guy come out and he said the unit was fine and charged me 100 bucks to basically tell me the switch was working and that freon level was okay, etc. He never turned off his truck, he clearly was not interested in helping me solve the problem.

So, a few days ago, on a hunch I decided to replace the thermostat. I'm not very handy but I was very careful and the instructions were clear. So, I'm very confident that I did a fine job. To my surprise, my A/C started working Great! The compressor shut down as expected! Yay me!

Today, we have a new problem. My unit is approx 9 years old. Now the ouside fan does not start and I get a few quick BUZZES out of what I assume is the compressor, and that's it.

I decided to turn the fan manually and then have my wife kick on the A/C while it was spinning. Better results, I guess .... The fan spun slower than normal but the outside unit did not have the normal gratifying buzz I'm accustomed to. Then the buzz (again I'm assuming this is the compressor) came on for about 5 seconds, stopped for about 5 seconds, and then came back on for about 5 seconds. I got scared at that point and turned off the A/C.

I should note that the fan never seemed to get running as fast as normal.

Any guru's have any suggestions or hunches on what the problem may be? I'm not really handy, so calling a pro is probably gonna be my best course of action, but I'd like to be somewhat informed before doing so.

Thank You!!!

Probably just the capacitor, replace it and make sure to match the existing ones size. I think by your desription that your unit utilizes a dual run capacitor so you should see like a 35-5-370 or maybe 40-7.5 x 440 or something similar written on the old ones body. Caution: the capacitor has to be discharged before touching it!

Thank You!! Any chance anyone knows what the ballpark estimate of this repair may be if done professionally? I'm in Central Valley CA (Stockton)


Thanks!!!!!

Good move on turning off the AC when you started having problems with it. If this is a capacitor problem it would be less than 150 bucks in my area (TN) but labor rates are a bit higher on the coast LOL hows arnold doing out there man?

haha Well Arnold is no godsend that's for sure. However, being less competent than Gray Davis would be a REAL challenge.

Thanks for you help!!!

You were absolutely correct. The capacitor was the culprit. 97 bucks later and my house is cool again! We checked the Better Business Burea this time before hiring a pro and the results were terrific!

Monday evening my house was at a pleasant 97 degrees with fans blowing everywhere... that's NO way to live.

Thanks again for the excellent advice!