Huge fan with a belt driven 3/4 HP 120v motor. cap blew so I bought the same one that was in it. (see link below) installed it fired right up, ran for about 2 min and it started oozing, cardboard cap blew off end and the goop was coming out. So I grabbed an old cap I had lying around ... sorry dont know the specs but its at least double in size and went to a 277v metal halide fixture. fan struggles to run unless you give it a good push... but once its running it runs fine, doesnt overheat or make funny noises. That was just a temp solution because its hot. I want to put the guard back on the fan but then I wont have access to spin the fan with my hand to "jump start" it. So my question is. Why did the new OEM cap pop, what is a better recommended cap to use than the OEM? motor spins free, it is not rusty, siezed.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Your motor probably has a centrifugal start switch that connects that cap for starting and opens after it starts. That switch could be stuck shut.