Well, I came back home (Oregon) from a trip to Tennessee and discovered it was hot (90F) so I decided to turn on my AC when low and behold it doesn't work... I've been messing around and here is what i know:

when i turn it to the on position it will make a noise in the engine, so i went to go and look and on the AC compressor on the outside portion of the pulley attached to the belt, i believe this is the AC clutch? (I'm 18 and it's my first vehicle) it would spin for a moment making a sort of grinding sound (it may just be the noise the AC compressor makes, I got the truck in October and haven't needed to turn the AC on, but my uncle had a dodge ram 2500 sport that I can't recall his truck makes this sound) and then stop, and would repeat this process over and over. Inside the cab, it obviously doesn't get cold, it just blows warm air. Any ideas? Am I screwed to a big bill via a repair shop? (I've been told not to work on it because of some chemical that can't be opened or something like that)

Any help would be great!
Collin Hale

 

Sounds like the compressor is shot in the A$$. But, could be that just the clutch is the culprit. Hard to tell without some more descriptors. And if you had a set of gauges (begged, borrowed, or ...) you could hook them up, and bypass the low pressure switch to get a reading. More input, please.
WC