I have been trying to troubleshoot this problem for days. At first, it started to work when I turned off all the power to the house and the I turned the inside thermostat to off and restarted a red pull lever out and inserted it back in (outside near the air conditioner unit. I started to get cold in the house so I move the thermostat to 75 degrees. I previously had it on 70 degrees to get the house cooled off quickly. When I move the thermostat to 75 it stop working. The outside air unit made a funny noise and I could tell from the sound that the fans were not turning. I sprayed the fans with WD-49 because when the Unit was on and making a weird noise the fans were difficult to turn. But when the system is completed shut down or turned off the fan blades turn. The outside unit makes a funny sound when I turn the unit off from the thermostat.

It sounds like the bearings are burned up on the outside fan motor, especially if the blade is hard to turn. This results from not properly oiling the motor every year with high speed oil designed special for electric motors. This oil is sold at all HVAC parts stores for about $2.00 and usually in a box on the counters since it is sold so much. It is in a plastic bottle with a long plastic spout to get into the oil holes on the motor. When oiling a motor it is important to push in a 1/8" drill bit or piece of wire to make sure the hole is clear. The plugs must be carefully removed to avoid breaking them. Now you need to get an outside condenser fan motor and a capacitor to match. You will have to get a motor designed to mount either horizontally or vertically and match the horsepower and rotation. Most household fan motors on the condensing unit are either 1/4, 1/3, or 1/2 horsepower motors. These motors run about $40-60, depending on the motor brand. The best motors are generic high-efficiency motors. You also need to note the RPM of the motor, which is usually 1075 rpm. Make sure to clean the coils if they are dirty with an alkaline coil cleaner while you are changing the fan motor since you will have it apart anyway. Buy an oiler and remove the plugs on the new motor, clear the holes, and add a few drops of oil. This is very good practice because fan motors usually are a little short of oil when new. Make sure and get a new capacitor because it will not be warrantied without a new one. If the motor is several speeds wire it on high speed and cap the other wires. Put the capacitor where no water can get on it and I like to spray the top with WD-40 to repel water and keep bugs from shorting it out if one gets on it. (Many have a rubber cover for it.) You will most likely need a fan puller to remove fan. Be very careful not to bend the blades-even a slight bend will ruin it. Until you get the motor you can run water on the coils with a sprinkler to cool them until you replace fan-it's an old emergency trick. DrTom4444