Just got around to doing my yearly "spring" cleaning on the A/C compressor outside, where I take the top off and lightly hose down the coils from the inside to wash out any dirt. I put the top back on, started everything back up, and the fan on top was moving very slowly. I pulled the side off the electrical panel on the unit (just to check all the wiring), and noticed a disconnected purple wire near the capacitor. It was touching the metal frame of the unit and arcing a small spark. I hit the breaker switch to kill the power to the unit. Guess I had pulled the top too far to the side when I took it off, and it pulled on all the wires going to the fan. I did some Google searches on the capacitor (GE model 97F9849) and figured out that one of the 3 terminals on the capacitor was marked "fan". Since the purple wire goes directly to the fan and was hanging near that terminal, I plugged the purple wire on to that terminal. Turned the power back on, and the compressor started making its usual noise, but the fan didn't turn at all. I've tried to find some wiring diagrams to this model (York H1HD036S06B - hard to tell the model number since its close to a wall), but haven't been able to find any.

I guess the questions are:
1) Is the "Fan" terminal on the capacitor the proper place for the purple wire from the fan?
2) How can I test the fan to see if it works?
3) Using a voltmeter, how can I test the capacitor to see if its OK?
4) If the capacitor is bad, where would I go to buy a new one?

I'm flat broke until Friday, and couldn't afford to even CALL an A/C repair shop. ANY help would be greatly appreciated.

There is normally a brown wire going to the terminal marked fan on the capacitor, the purple wire would probably go to the contactor and a yellow wire to the common terminal or "C" on the capacitor . If the capacitor is bad the PROPER way to test is with a meter that measures capacitance of the capacitor , capacitors can be purchased from an air conditioning supply house.
The wiring diagram in the unit will show you these connections.

Finally figured this out. The capacitor has 3 terminals on it. The one marked "Fan" was still clean, as if nothing had ever been connected to it. Another terminal had two red wires on one plug, and another terminal on that post that had some light scratches as if a connector had been on it before. Plugged the purple wire connector on it and everything fired up fine.

Thanks for the help!!