Thnks guys

Had a reply from Bill at Bard who confirmed that indeed, it's a "blow
through coil" system, taking air from the back, cross the motor and pushing
out through the coils.

I spent all afternoon telling my HVAC "expert" that -- who was obviously
annoyed everytime I brought it up. They wanted to install a new unit for
1877.00 (which hopefully I won't have to do).

Fact remains though, I cool for about 5 minutes and that's it. Everything
checks out -- freon is good.

Question --

Can a compressor be borderline and show these symptoms?

I thought today I would put the motor back to CCW where it belongs and run a
water hose over the compressor to see if it helps? good - bad idea?

Heat exchanger is fine the pressure is where it supposed to be. ??