I bought a 97' f-150 with 117k on the engine not realizing all the potential problems that came with this year and engine. It appeared find the first 450 miles. Then I started to here a intermittent noise from the engine. A high pitch almost grinding or belt noise(bearing?), I decided to check under the hood and it appeared to come from the compressor. Then yesterday I shut it off after parking up for the night it made a metalic clank noise.Suspicious, I turned it back on... it seemed to O.K. The next morning before going to work, I turned it over and checked and there was no AC... I pulled the hood and the the compressors pully was not turning with the belt and there was smoke coming from it so I shut the engine down. Wated a while and turned it over again It started rotating and still a little smoke coming from inside the compressor. My question is, is this a clutch thing?? Let me know.Thanks

 

Sounds like your compressor is getting ready to bite the dust.