So.... I'll try to keep it short.
Here's the problem..... during peak times, the AC unit seems to only be pumping room temp air through the house. When it's 88 outside at 1pm, it's 88 degrees in the house. "Non peak" hours, as in evening, night and early morning it's putting out good cold air.
1) 20+ year old house, original AC unit. About 1100 square feet of living space and a 2T Trane unit.
2) I've replaced the fan motor once, 2 years ago now.
3) The coils on the condenser unit are clean.
4) There's plenty of air flow out of the ducts so the "A coil" isn't clogged.
5) There's plenty of refrigerant in the lines and no leaks (tested with gauges).
It's been working fine until about 36 hours ago.....
I had a friend who's mostly an appliance guy (but does some HVAC and is certified) look at it tonight after work & he said "looks like an inefficient compressor". Is this a "normal" symptom of a compressor starting to fail? Inefficient would mean it was undersized 20 years ago, but it's always kept up and never had an issue for the 10 years I've owned the home.
The replacement compressor is about a $1k, a new unit isn't "that" much more... the refrigerant change from R22 to R401A (I think that's right) means the lines need to be flushed and maybe the A coil needs to be changed as well.
Anyone here have any $0.02 they can toss at me?
Thanks in advance.

Greg