How do you check a capacitor on a outside condenser

How do I check a capacitor on a condensing unit

Shut of the power, unhook all the wires from the cap with pair of insulated wire strippers, then short between all three spades to make sure the cap is not charged (hurts like heck to get shocked by one of these, and it can damage your meter if you don't discharge it first). Then take your multimeter and put it on the uf setting. Put the leads of the meter from c to herm, take reading, then c to fan and take reading. Compare these readings with the ratings on the cap (something like 35/5 or 40/5 and so on. There will also be a +/- 5 percent, 6 percent, so on. Do the calculations and you will know if your cap is bad. If you don't get any reading at all, the cap is bad. Also, if the cap is bulged, or leaking oil, it is bad. Let me know what you find. Also, you can normally pic up a new dual capacitor for under 20 bucks, usually closer to ten. So if you can't get it tested, just get an exact replacement and cross your fingers.

Lee.