A/C Clutch or Compressor? 2nd Gen Please help

2005 Tacoma Pre-Rumner
4.0 V6 97,000 miles original owner. A/c was perfectly fine. Stopped for lunch. Turn truck on, Loud elephant wine sound for 5 seconds...A/C light was solid lit
Loud wine sound stops and goes away. A/C light flashes!
Engine compartment all quiet
Belt looks perfect No grinding sound from a/c area of the pully or Compressor
Air blowing kinda cool
A/C clutch? Or Compressor?
Wife remembers smelling something just before we stopped for lunch
I really think it's the clutch but not sure
Is it worth my time to change out the clutch assembly on 18 year old truck and possibly get lucky or have shop install new factory Compressor and condenser with dryer and recharge system?
Thanks for any help

 

Kinda sounds like the compressor locked up and the belt was slipping until the ECU recognized that and disengaged the clutch. You’ll want to determine whether that’s the case before moving forward on any repair.

If the clutch appears to be the culprit, replacing it can range from “not too bad” to “oh screw this, getting a new compressor” depending upon how crusty things are in there. If you’re in the rust belt I’d suspect it would be the latter. But do check out some of the writeups here on TW, many people have done the clutch replacement in situ.