Need AC diagnosis and price prognosis

Hi,

Sorry for the length...am trying to give as much detail as possible. Any advice would be appreciated.

I am in the Mid Atlantic/Northeast portion of this fine country, and we are currently broiling under a heat dome.

My AC issues are with the CONDENSER/OUTDOOR UNIT. (LENNOX HSXB15, installed at the end of 2005).

A little background info:

-I am fairly clueless about the HVAC guts of my house.

-The AC first crapped out, a few years ago. Vents inside the house were all blowing warm air, but the condenser fan outside was not spinning. Determined that someone had accidentally cut the THERMOSTAT WIRE on the outdoor unit (probably with a hedge trimmer, or something). I called in an HVAC company. They charged me $200+ to repair.

All was fine for a couple of seasons and then the AC crapped out again at the beginning of LAST SUMMER. Here are the details of what I observed at that time:

-When I would turn on the AC, the vents inside the house would all blow warm air again.

-Confirmed that, YES, the CONDENSER FAN outside was working/spinning, so I knew it wasn't a thermostat wire issue again.

-Confirmed that the air filter was clean.

-After Googling around I determined it might be a REFRIGERANT issue? I can't remember exactly what I had read, but it was something about locating a line/tube running from the outdoor unit into the house...the one that is insulated by a foam sheath...feel the line underneath...if it's warm, it's some kind of refrigerant/freon issue.

However, I never called in anyone to diagnose/repair and I decided to just sweat it out and wait to fix next summer.

It is now next summer, and here is what I observe:

-When turning on the AC, the vents inside house all still blow warm air, as to be expected.

-Now, the CONDENSER FAN outside is NOT spinning. However, the fan is not stuck. When I give it a push with a stick, it moves.

-Confirmed that no wires on the unit had been cut again.

-Confirmed that it is not a circuit breaker issue.

-When I put my ear close to the condenser unit, I can hear a very faint buzzing, and then a louder buzzzzz/zap sound every 20 seconds. Soooooo...it seems that it might be either a CONDENSER FAN MOTOR, or a CAPACITOR issue? Again, this is me, and I am going by Google.

SO FINALLY, my actual question is:

Is my crackpot research and diagnosis on the right track? (REFRIGERANT issue + now also either a CONDENSER FAN MOTOR or CAPACITOR issue?)

If so, how much, ballpark, would it cost to repair?

If I choose to forgo AC again this summer, will that have negative consequences on the CONDENSER UNIT? Will being stagnant for so long cause it harm in the long run?

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