My central air conditioner broke !

Last week my central air conditioner just stopped working. You could hear the house fan come on, but nothing cool came out. I went outside and noticed that the 5 ton York air conditioning unit was making only a slight humming noise. Not good , considering my family quickly began to panic.
I quickly went to the phone and began calling authorized service contractors. After about an hour, it became apparent that it was going to cost me $175 plus parts plus labor. Frankly I didn't have that kind of money for a repair. I was also afraid they were going to come out, go through the motions, and then tell me I needed a new one. So, I thought long and hard and remembered that a friend of mine was in the business (HVAC). I gave him a call and this is what he told me to do.
First, turn off the house circuit breaker. Then go outside and pull out the outside circuit breaker located next to the unit on the house. This will insure that there is no power going to the unit. Next you want to see if there is any ice on the unit, this could be thermostat or condenser related. No ice on mine. Now we check to see if it is the fan motor. Take a long screwdriver and put it through the grate on top now try to turn the fan using the screwdriver. If it won't turn, then your fan motor is shot. Mine turned. Next we want to check the solenoid. To do this locate the service panel on the unit. It has labels and model #'s and easily comes off with a screwdriver or a small wrench. I removed the panel and immediately noticed what looked like a small grey soda can. It had a crack in it and was leaking grease. Success!!! I had found the problem at no cost.
Now how to fix it? Just unplug it , bring it to your nearby HVAC parts store and buy a replacement. It only cost $35 dollars! Now plug it in and reattach the service panel. Replace the outside circuit breaker. Flip the inside breaker back on. Now, hold your breath and turn on the A/C. IT WORKED. I saved hundreds of dollars and felt pretty good about myself. I was also lucky it wasn't one of the more expensive options. Hope this helps some of you.