said by Bobcat79:How do you guys know the capacitor failed? Don't they normally get weak and start leaking (electrically), instead of a catastrophic failure?
First clue was the Cap was passing the 120VAC to the motors, but nothing was happening, just a very quiet hum from the compressor.
As I was removing the cap I noticed that the aluminum housing was bulged at the top and bottom, this is from overpressure during the internal short circuit.
The blowout port was not breached.
I checked it with a capacitance meter and there was none, a direct short from the common terminal to the compressor terminal as well as from the com to fan terminals.
You could check the cap with a capacitance meter as your regular PM, it wouldn't hurt.
Replacing the run caps on a regular basis seems like a good idea now, and I'm ordering a spare this week, also install a start cap kit is good and should lengthen the run cap's life.