air conditioner - compressor or clutch? update

Thank you all for your replies. Here is what happened so far.

I looked for iron filings in the belly pan - none found it appears that
the clutch is not the problem or at least not the main problem.
It was a good tip from Mike F., thanks

I tried tighting the belt a bit and it did help some (even thought it
looked tight) and that did quite down the screeaching a bit.
Thanks to Gary H. for that suggestion.

I tried the belt dressing and that did quite down the screeaching
alot and the belt in not a factory belt so I will get a belt from
the local blue and white parts counter. thanks to ALRHALL

When the a/c is on the system makes air that is just about 30 degrees
cooler than outside on fan 2 and recirculate. not great. But the power
that
the system draws from the engine to do this is surprisingly noticeable
at 50
mph it feels like I am towing a small trailer when the compressor kicks
in..
In the driveway the system makes cold air but the accumulator bottle
is not cold. I thought this was odd.

Today I got the system refrigerant removed, a 5 minute process,
that took a while to to. It was removed on
a system that could weight it with some accuracy and 16 oz came
out. I was present when the system was last filled after a hose that had

a leaking fitting was replaced between the compressor and the core
in front of the radiator, and at that time 3 - 12oz cans were put in
for a total of 36 oz. I understand that spec is 38.4 oz (BTW it worked
quite well with what amounts to a 6% undercharge) I checked the
records and that was done 24 months ago. So in 24 months 20 oz
leaked out. Not a good thing to have in a system. No way to know with
just two pieces of data if it is a slow leak or one that was slow and is
now
much faster.

Is the 16 oz of refrigerant explaination of the accumulator bottle not
being cold ?

The compressor has apparently has a seal leak as there is oil (and road
dust) in the area of, and all over the compressor. I would expect it is
the ester oil from the compressor. I could try pulling a vacuum on the
system now just to see if it holds the vacuum but think it is pointless.

I realize it will not hold pressure at least long term and that is the
issue.

I will try checking the oil level in the compressor to see if it is
low,
and also look at the oil for discoloration etc.
I will pull the oriface valve to see what the screens look like. I am
hoping to not find any thing that would lead to conformation of the
compressor failing.

So I have done searching for a compressor source, as what I figure
is a seal leak is not going to get better on it's own, can only get
worse.
Anyone got ant suggestions on brands? Sanden seems to be one that
is available, anyone know anything about them? Do they last a long time?

I have also found what is called as an oem re-build Guess I know what
I got there. And also "four seasons" from the local stores, who really
can not tell me much about them.

Appreciate any feed back as this is my first time taking on ac work of
this magnitude.