Air Conditioning - Outside cent. air unit only runs 10 seconds

I have an Amana 90% efficient furnace with a 12 seer Amana central air unit. The air conditioner was working fine a few weeks ago. Today when I turn on the central air the outside unit kicks on for about 10 seconds then goes off. At least the fan in the unit kicks on, I can't tell if the compressor is coming on or not. After 5 or 10 minutes it does the same thing, on for 10 seconds or so then off. Could this be low on freon and not closing a pressure switch? What other things could it be? THANKS rd

As you sugfgest, it could be due to a low charge of refrigerant, though to know for sure you need to post the full M/N of this amana outdoor unit. If the schematic is available online, it will show right away if it has (or not) a "Low Pressure Cutout" switch.

If you have a volt meter and some electrical skill you could do a couple of electrical checks just to narrow it down a bit. These checks would have to be done with unit powered on so safety will be paramount. Do not attempt this unless you have a good skill set and steady careful hand eye coordination. I have a neighbor that is a musician I can tell you right now he has NO business even picking up a volt meter much less getting close to high voltage LOL, everyone has there different areas of strengths and weaknesses. That boy can play a guitar though and I just make ugly noise on any musical instrument. I even failed the xyophone class back in school.

Thanks for the replies. I have a HVAC repair person coming out tomorrow. I was just trying to educate myself so that I was not scammed into replacing the unit. THANKS rd (You guys are great)

It was low on coolant. Tech added 2 lbs of freon today.

Any leak check or repair performed?