Air Conditioning - Condenser problems

My condenser fan wasn't turning but the compressor was trying to cut on, I replaced the condenser fan motor and dual capacitor. I turned the unit on and it ran fine for a few minutes started cooling and then stopped. Now the condenser fan comes on for a few minutes then shuts off but the compressor does not engage. Where do I go now?:madhell:

Did you use a capacitor with the same ratings as the original.

Yes sir I did. I am stumped. I am not sure what to check now.

Well, first tell us about the old motor vs the new motor. I suspect something is miswired. Check the voltage going to the fan motor and to the compressor. Can you post some pics of the unit and especially the wiring in the control panel?

ac pics - Home (http://jspencer35.webs.com/)


I posted some pictures here of the a/c unit wiring etc. Idon't have anyway to check voltage, but I am pretty sure i put the wires back where they were when i started. The motor I took off I carried it to grainger as well as the dual cap. Every thing matched up aside from the new motor had 2 wires to the capacitor and the new capacitor is round not oval. The old motor had a purple wire and a black wire. The new motor had a yellow wire and a black one. I put the yellow wire where the purple was and the black where the black was. From the diagram on the new motor and on the panel I gathered this was correct. I wiggled the connections this morning, turned on the power and once again everything came on and started cooling. The fan ran for about 5 minutes and stopped, compressor was still humming so I flipped the breaker off,which made the entire unit shake. The large freon line was cold and condensation was forming on the compressor tank so i now the compressor is working. I am sure it is probably something simple, I just don't know what. I sure as heck can't afford a service call fo a tiny problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The pics won't load. What did you wiggle?- coz that's where the problem is.

Sorry about the pics not loading, not very computer savvy. I could put up my email address and you could send be a blank email I could reply with the pictures. The other thing is I just touched every wire in the panel to assure a good connection. If that's the problem then I am not to sure which wire it is. I really appreciate your help so far and will be waiting for more.

jspencer35@yahoo.com

Photo 17 shows the problem if I'm seeing it correctly. If you have the brown wire (from the fan motor) and the brown wire with a white stripe (also from the motor) connected to the same terminal of the capacitor, then it's connected wrong. Remove the brown/white stripe wire and tape it. That should solve your problem.

Also, as a side note, the same photo shows heavy corrosion at the spade connections of the two red wires. I would chop off an inch of the wires and replace the spades. Bad connections overheat and will damage your new capacitor over time.

It seems you are a genius Mr. Jim-Connor. Thank you very much for your help.

The guy at granger had told me to use both brown wires from the new motor to the capacitor. Whereas the old motor only had one. But it seems to be working fine now so I guess that all for me now, Thank You All.