no you can't add freon by yourself. you must have an epa license to buy and work with freon.save yourself time and money and call a company. Sometimes it dosn't pay to be cheap.

Refrigerant does not need to be added as a matter of normal course. It does not wear out or get used up over time. A leak needs to be repaired properly, otherwise added refrigerant will leak out again.

What makes you think he's gonna get he leak fixed when he doesn't even want to pay for a tech to put in freon? The reality is small leaks are very hard and time consuming to find and even if you do find it it might be to difficult to fix. Also, if it blew cold yesterday and not today chances are there is another problem.

I don't care if he fixes it or not. I was just making the point that some people are under the impression that Freon wears out or dissipates over time and more must be added as a normal "maintenance" procedure ... which is not the case. Kinda like the misinformation going around for years that the gas leaks out of plasma TVs and they must be refilled.

Good point all the more better to call a pro. that dude won't though he'll get one of his friends to do it for less muy less.

Thanks for all replies. It is a bad capacitor problem. It is pretty easy to replace it by yourself. It may just cost part $15 and 20 minutes to replace it. The problem description is the central air conditioner suddenly stopped blowing out cool but only warm air. The outside unite fan does not spin but buzzes. Try to replace the capacitor and see whether it will work. If not, return the part and call the technician. You can save at least $100.

It's good to know that you were pretty close with the low freon guess. Don't be upset if your fan motor doesn't start up or your compressor for that matter.