“...get a complete new pump and don’t fool around with replacing the capacitor for safety’s sake.”
Smart call. If OP is not married and lives alone, gopher it! Otherwise, face the music when it fails. You will be blamed by the wifey for trying to go cheap when it fails, even if over the normal operating lifetime. Just buy a new pump! It’s worth the extra cost in the long run.
I’m not after “cheap” (at least for the cap.) I’m after learning about these devices (esp. the caps — poly film plus oil is new to me) & also improving the reliability! My experience & research (practical and online) with the failures (overall) says a new pump may fail sooner, anyway.
Wifey started off as an engineer, so, she somewhat understands the mindset. Plus, the basement is to my shop, so, no impact on her. Except me griping at whoever spec’d the crappy Chinese capacitor. (Not all Chinese parts are poor - I just think in this case the mfgr skimped on this.)