My Goodman Condensing Unit will have fan operation, but the compressor remains off. I've confirmed fuse and thermostat status, and everything appears normal, just no A/C. Any suggestions?

There is several possible causes. The most probable cause is wrong charge. Many units have a low suction safety on the low pressure side of the compressor. There is often a high pressure swithch to guard against over pressure also on the high pressure side. If your unit has the condensing fan stop in mid cycle, the compressor has inherent motor contacts inside the compressor to help guard the compressor from overheating. I just recently had to replace several customers main contactor because the contactor contacts were severly burned and sometimes could pass current and sometimes could not. I also had a few customers whose condensing unit was so dirty that the compressor was overheating causing the inherent motor contacts to open. Hope this gives you some ideas to look.

you need to replace your condensing fan motor. the noise you are hearing is the compressor working against a lot of pressure because the heat is building up in you condensing unit. Prolonged operation without an operating condensing fan motor will cause your compressor to burn up, and then you will have the cost of a compressor changeout to the cost of a condensing fan motor.

If your description is in a few minutes, It sounds like a loose wire. If it is the outside fan motor to which you were referring, it should have 3 wires. Find those 3 wires and trace them back to the control board and main contactor. check the condition of any connections and the condition of the insulation. Next, If it is the blower motor, do the same thing.
It also sounds like it could be the control wiring. The blower control wire is the green wire coming from the thermostat and going to the fan control board in the air handler. If you have a loose connnection in the thermostat and/or loose connnection for some splice in that wire, it could interrupt the control power to the blower motor and cause it to cycle.
If it is the condensing fan on the condensing unit, it is the yellow wire. Check the same criteria as green wire above.

As far as the last of your inquiry, the air conditioner reaches temperature then turns off is normal and is not part of the problem your having.
The only other thing I can think of without more information, If the condensing unit comes on and shortly later turns off, the question is whether the condensing fan comes on when the compressor turns on. I had a case today, both the outdoor fan and compressor would not run, but the main contactor was pulled in, and voltage was available. It turns out the dual capacitor was bad and the condensing fan had stopped running and the compressor was cycling on the inherent motor protection inside the compressor. Inside the compressor is a bimetallic overtemperature switch that helps protect the compressor from getting to hot. This is your probable cause and can be determined by checking the temperature of the condensing fan motor and the temperature of the compressor. If both are so hot your hand gets burned, you probably need an new capacitor and outdoor fan motor. If the compressor cools by turning it off, the inherent motor protection will reset if it has not burned out. If after deenergizing the compressor cool off and will not reset, the compressor will have to be changed.


Hope this helps.

This can be for a variety of reasons. It ranges from something as simple as no supply power (blown fuse, open breaker, faulty contactor, or run capacitor) or it could be more serious as a grounded or open winding in the compressor motor. My suggestion to any novice and or person without proper tools and knowledge; First check the low voltage (24 volt control voltage) by turning on the "Fan on" switch located on the thermostat to on, not "Auto" The blower fan should come on, indicating there's 120 volt and 24 volt available. Fan doesn't come on is an indication that there's no control power. The next step would be to check for power at the transformer and fuse located in the air handler. There should be 240 volts feeding the transformer, and 24 volts coming out. The control voltage is needed to operate the thermostat (which is the switch that sends the 24 volt signal to the compressor contactor to turn the compressor on/off. This 24 volt also powers other relays and switches in the system. knowing that 24 volt is available also tells you that the problem is most likely in the condensing unit (outside, where the compressor is located). At the condensing unit you should check for 240 volt supply power. Upon finding 240 volt supply power the question now becomes whether or not the thermostat is calling for anything (cool or heat if the unit is a heat pump). There should be 24-30 volt available at the small gauge wires feeding the contactor coil. While having the thermostat set at a temperature lower than the current room temperature (in the cooling mode) the thermostat should send a 24 volt signal to close the compressor contactor and turn it on. The non-metallic end of a screwdriver can be used to depress the moveable part of the contactor. After pushing in the contactor, should the compressor start then you may only need a new contactor. It may just hum because of a faulty run capacitor or grounded or shorted internal motor windings (grounded or shorted windings are usually indicated by tripped circuit breaker and/or blown fuse). It's a good idea to have a good multi-meter and knowledge of use before attempting any repairs or diagnosis on your own. I recommend some basic knowledge of electricity before even thinking about attempting any repairs or diagnosis.

the w wire off thermosta controls heat. eithe bad board or thermostat.

no reset replace capacitors. check terminals on compressor to see if a wire burned off

Generally, the fuses are located in a box outside by the outdoor unit. The box has a door on it and you will probably have to pull a cartridge out and the fuses will be behind the cartridge. If you don't have an ohm meter to check the fuses , just go to home depot, lowes or another hardware store where they can check them for you. Be sure to check the circuit breakers too.

shutdown the unit and check the condensing fan motor as well as the compressor.

Look at the contactor on the condensing unit, remove the low voltage wires to the contactor and turn on the system. If the low voltage fuse doesn't blow, replace the contactor.