Just a best guess at this point, I had a strange scraping/howling sound (not very loud) coming from the compressor area every time I turned on the A/C.

A friend of mine and I spent some time looking at it and listening to it a few weeks back,....our best guess was that the clutch had an issue,....maybe the friction points were worn excessively (wherever, whatever they might be in an A/C clutch). It stopped cooling the last time I drove it a few days ago. I havent checked to see if there is still Freon in the system, I'll check it in the morning when its a bit cooler.