Recently the compressor fan motor of our Lennox 13ACC-030-230-01 outside unit stopped working. I discovered this when I happened to walk by a register and noticed that ambient room temperature air was being blown out rather than cold air. When I walked outside to check the compressor unit, the compressor was running, but not the fan. And boy was that compressor HOT! I quickly pulled the fuse by the unit to stop things and prevent a member of my family from being able to restart the unit from the indoor thermostat. I removed the top of the unit after things cooled down. The fan motor was warm, but spun freely. I figured that either the motor was bad or the start capacitor was bad. Since many folks seem to replace the motor and capacitor at the same time, I ordered the capacitor first since it was alot cheaper than the motor. I figured that if a new capacitor didn't fix things, I'd just order the motor then. Once I got the new capacitor, I was able to install it in about ten minutes. (very easy to do by the way.) I replaced the fuse and turned the thermostat down and the compressor fan started up just fine and cold air was coming out of the registers again. I suspect that this could just have easily have been the motor, but fortunately for me, it was the capacitor.

Just thought I'd post my findings in case it might help somebody else out.

Old timers test. If the fan turns easy, it usually means a bad capacitor.