We cleaned the coils outside. Now the compressor only stays on about 30 seconds and shuts off. It will come again in approximately 4 minutes. The fan outside and the blower inside stays on. We have a Carrier 28AC036000
Heating & Cooling - Carrier - 38BRC036 Air Conditioner
Answers & Comments
Sounds like it's cycling on the high pressure cut-out switch. Note: it could be a low-pressure switch that is causing the cycling but most units (today) don't have low pressure switches. If your unit has either of these two switches it will (usually) be the high pressure switch, although it's possible it has the low pressure switch too. My guess is it only has a 'high pressure cut-out.'
I would seriously look at the coil again and make sure you've cleaned it real good.
Many Carrier Air Conditioners have what is called a SPLIT coil. If this is what you have you will need to (WITH ALL POWER OFF) disassemble the outside unit enough to where you can manually pull these coils apart (be careful - you just need to get a small gap between them) and wash IN BETWEEN the two coils.
Pretty difficult to do - but doable.
It's possible you have an overcharged unit - but unless you've recently had it charged I would not suspect this.
If it is not the high pressure switch - and 'you do have' a low pressure switch - chances are you're out of refrigerant and you will need a serviceperson to (a) fix the leak and (b) re-charge the unit