Hi guys, I am having a problem with my outside air conditioning unit. I left for the day, and when I returned and turned the a/c on, it blew hot air for about 20 minutes before I realized something might be wrong. So I went outside and noticed the fan blades on the outside unit weren't turning at all. I don't hear any loud humming noises on the outside unit fan or compressor, just a very slight humming noise I cannot pinpoint which is barely noticeable. Turning the fan blades with a long screwdriver doesn't get it to start up. The system is a Nordyne/Maytag P3RA-048K and from what I have read it has a dual mode capacitor because it has 3 wires. So I did some reading, and learned about the contactor and the capacitor. I can see the contactor pull in when I turn it on, although one time out of about 7 test tries I did see a slight small spark in it, nothing big. The contactor appears to be working from what I can tell it is pulling itself in and I see it pop back out when I turn it back off. It looks new and clean. I discharged the capacitor with a screwdriver, and removed it. I tested it with a multimeter, and it seemed to test good although it is slightly rusty. I have a cheap digital multimeter, and it went from 0 to about 2000 then back to 1. If I reverse the jumpers, it starts at about -400 then slowly goes back on through to 0 and all the way up to 2000 before reading 1 again. Same with other side of the capacitor. I have read it should go back to 0 but I am guessing because I have a cheap multimeter or because it is digital it is reading 1 instead. I also removed the fan wires thinking the fan motor was bad. I touched the wires to contactor's inputs and the fan started humming loud, and if I push start it and then quickly touch the fan wires to the contactors supply it turns on, either full or medium speed depending which wires I touched to contactors inputs. I put it all back together, and try to turn it on, I see the fan blades barely twitch but no movement to speak of at all, no loud humming noise from the fan motor like when I hooked it up to the contactor inputs as previously mentioned. There is nothing written on the capacitor besides 621697 and 0031. Nothing in the label inside of outside unit cover, specifications, owners manual or wiring diagrams about the capacitor. Does it sound like it could be the capacitor? I have read even with a bad capacitor that you can usually push the fan blades with a long screwdriver and get it to start. Is it possible the capacitor could fail to where it will not let any power through to the fan and compressor? Thank you!

I bought a used and working motor to at least get through the summer season which is about over. My old motor had three wires and 3 blades. The wires are black, brown, and purple. The new motor has black, brown and orange wires and 2 blades. A square headed bolt is holding both blades on. I have loosened the bolts and can not get either blade off the shaft. They are somewhat rusted on the part of the shaft that is exposed at the end. Issue three is my motor has 4 bolts extending out the back (or top) of the motor and cap like nuts hold it in place. The new motor has holes on the side for mounting the motor. Is the black to black and brown to brown the proper hookup? And my purple and the orange both go on the capacitor which is where my purple wire was connected? Can a round bracket be bought to mount the new motor on my existing frame? How to get the blades off the shafts? Both motors are GE, 1/6hp and 1075 rpm. I assume (right or wrong?) the one with two blades will do the same job as the 3 blade. I assume the purple wire and orange wire are the same(?) Black should be hot and brown on one motor should go to the same location on the capacitor as my brown motor. So, I need a bracket of some kind to mount the new motor. The red circles show the way these two motors are mounted. There is a tool called a hub puller. Any other ideas? Another issue will be how to get the proper blade back on the shaft. If a hub puller is required to take one off, then it does not sound like the new one will slide on there by itself.