After doing some online research I suspected that the symptoms of the problem with my air conditioner pointed to a faulty "dual motor start capacitor". To be sure, I used a stick to give the fan blades a jump start in the correct direction. Sure enough the fan blades easily began to spin and the motor quickly revved up to normal speed but I still couldn't hear the compressor making any noise. I checked inside and the A/C was still blowing warm air but slightly less hot than before. If the fan blades on your motor won't spin at all or take a lot of force to move them, your fan motor has seized and probably needs to be replaced.

To access the electrical panel I had to remove the top cover where the fan is attached using an 8mm socket (or flat head screwdriver), lift it slightly off to the side and then take out two more screws on the bottom of the condenser unit housing. With that side panel off I could easily see the electrical contactor and the old capacitor. It's a sure sign that your capacitor needs to be replaced when it looks disfigured, bent, bulging, popped, or is leaking an oil like or greasy substance.

The old capacitor was very swollen and looked like a soda can that had been repeatedly shaken up. Be sure to write down which wires go to what terminal on your capacitor before removing the old one or just take a few pictures. For home air conditioning systems that use dual run capacitors they will have 3 terminals. The terminal labeled "HERM" is for the yellow wire that goes to the "Hermetically Sealed" compressor. The "FAN" terminal gets connected to the brown wire that goes to the condenser fan. Finally the "COM" terminal is for the purple and red wires that go to the contactor and provide power to the capacitor.