Hello and sorry if this question is confusing. I'm desperate for a possible way to fix this problem without forking out the bucks now. We moved into our house in 2001 and the trane ac downstairs was brand new. It had always worked fine until last year when it started to blow very little cool air out the vents. I admit that my husband had a bad habit of taking out the full filter before I bought a new one and I would find this out when I went to put the new filter in and the slot was empty! He did this quite a few times over a period of 6 years until I threatened bodilty harm. The unit started to squeal, so we turned it completely off and suffered the rest of the summer. My husband took it apart the other day to clean it out and found a layer of dust over "some kind of opening" (sorry he's not home to confirm area) and cleaned it all off, and cleaned everything out. When he started it up, the noise was completely gone, and the fan worked, and the cool air was flowing! Yea! Then the fan stopped and he said a part of the unit got hot. He took the unit out again, and used a light oil to lubricate and put it back together again. The fan tries to work... turning a quarter turn, then stops.. another quarter tun and stops.. and so on. And the barrel turns freely Did he 'toast" our unit? Or is there something we can do to make it work long enough to afford a housecall?. Don't worry... all is completely shut off before touching.





My husband now tried to start it again and the fan turned normally, and it sounded just fine blowing out cold air and everything. It however only lasts about 1/2 hour when the moter gets too hot and shuts down itself. What can that be?

Probably the motor is toast but you could try a motor run capacitor first to see if that cures the problem.

My first guess is the run capacitor is bad.