Okay...I'm appealing to the A/C gurus for some advice. MY 98 Ranger 3.0 started blowing warm, then hot, about 3 months ago with alot of clutch cycling. After throwing some R134a in it, it worked okay for about a month. So then I take it to the shop and am told I have almost no R134a. So they recharge it and check for leaks. Don't find any. Fast forward to week before last, it's going out again and I notice sticky stuff on top of the accumulator. Take it back and they find a leak in the low side switch. They replace it. Right out of the shop no problems. Go home and it sits. Go out to go to work and it makes an awful racket for 15-20 seconds when I start up the A/C. After work, does the same thing. After 2 days of a similar pattern, back to the shop it goes. They let it sit for a day or so in order to reproduce the problem. Call me up and the A/C tech says its my compressor dying but it'll be fine for a while longer. It began doing it all the time if I turned off the A/C and turned it back on. So after 3 days of more noise I quit using A/C. Used it last night and it made the noise again. I didn't use it at all today until I was going to the library this evening with my wife. Start up the A/C and no noise. Made several stops, turn off A/C every time. Turn it back on when we get back in, no noise. Blows cold with no problems.
So...my questions are as follows:
1.) Could it really have been my compressor dying?
2.) If so, does letting it die a long death pose any threat to the rest of the A/C system?
3.) Does the noise stopping mean something has died?
I would think after leaking for 2 months, the R134a would have been low again but they said it was fine, didn't add any. That just doesn't sound right to me.

 

If it's not making the noise and working ok, I would use it.

However, a noisy compressor dying a slow death can contaminate your system resulting in a hefty repair bill.