Our in-ground pool pump (Hayward Super 2) would not start this morning - the switch turned on, it hummed for several seconds, and then shut off. I replaced the start capacitor since it was only registering around 60uF, although there were no signs of it being damaged.

I decided to do a pump rebuild while it was open (and since I had the seals/gaskets on hand).

I buttoned everything up, added water, & turned it back on. The pump ran for about 15 seconds and then... smoke!

The capacitor blew (leaking oil), and now I'm trying to figure out the next step.

I replaced the capacitor with one of a similar rating (Packard PMJ161: 161 - 193MFD, 110 - 125 VAC 60/50HZ, but I'm wondering if this was not a true replacement part (or if it was bad out of the box). The original was a Mallory 161 - 192MFD, 110VAC, 60HZ (610807-2). I am pretty sure that I replaced the 3 wires the same way that they were wired on the original

I guess I'm also wondering if something that I did during the rebuild may have caused it to bind that stressed the capacitor.

I'm also wondering if there is another issue altogether that caused the 1st cap to fail and then killed the second as well. The motor shaft moved without restriction before the repair/rebuild and I checked it afterwards as well to make sure that it moved freely.