Silver Surfer wrote:
Took the cover off my Crosley air conditioner to find out why the
compressor motor was tripping its thermal overload a few seconds after
kicking on.

The dual section running capacitor had a strange, twisty, grayish glob
coming out of its side. The stuff looked like one of those "snakes"
that the kids light on July 4th, but is was very hard and stuck tightly
to the capacitor body. Pried it off. Looked like a small hole where it
came out.

I assumed that the capacitor had bought the farm and ordered a new one.
Ouch! Best price on the Internet was about $70. Is what I described
typically what's found when one of these capacitors fails?


Usually they just open or short, but leaking is possible.

Jeez, $70 is a lot, last time I needed one I picked it up for something
like $6 from http://www.usamfg.net/, their inventory changes constantly
though so you need some luck.