Central air conditioning question - fan motor?

i'll ume that the blower motor in the indoor unit [ air handler] always runs when it should...its the outdoor unit fan motor thats the problem??..if so,,likely it needs a new motor..even if the capacitor was bad,likely the motor had run hot for a long time [weeks,months],,the difference between a heat pump in heating season and cooling season is that in cooling season,you will notice a problem soon after it begins due to no cooling,or noticable drop in cooling...in the heat mode,heat pumps arent very good heaters anyway,can be tough to distinguish between a heat pump thats working ok but struggling with the cold outdoor temps, and a heat pump with a problem..therefore that motor is probably bad due to running all that time with a bad capacitor...motors fail in different ways..just because it turns freely with power off doesnt mean the windings are ok...as long as the capacitor is good,a motor that doesnt start up and get to speed quickly after being energized is bad...if it does start up and sound ok at 1st,it might be overheating after running a while...basically,as long as it has power and capacitor is good, [ and correct uf],there is no excuse for is not to be able to run for hours at a time,esp if its cold outside,which should help keep it from overheating...so go ahead and replace the motor if you know how...be sure to get same rpm and = or slightly greater horsepower..also be sure that new capacitor is the correct microfared [uf] for the new motor..if it isnt,then you will have to replace it with correct one for the new motor.........dan