AC problem

I turned on my AC for the very first time the other day. After about 5 minutes I smell something burnt from the engine bay. I thought it was coming from other cars on the road because my AC were still blowing cold air. After getting off the car when I got home I still smell the burnt. So opened the hood and found some splash black "ink" like liquid around the AC compressor cluth area. The next day when I started the Jeep in the morning I heard some grinding noise coming from the engine bay without turning on the AC. The noise seem to disappear and come back randomly for the past few days. It is a low pitch grinding noise and I don't hear the belt slipping. If I turn on the AC it would blow cold air. I took it to the Jeep dealer and they said the compressor is shot. Do you think I have a bad AC compressor? Or do you think I have a bad AC bearing or maybe a bad AC clutch?

Thanks!

I had a similar burning smell in mine when the ac clutch went out. Initally i wanted to just replace the clutch but one would need special tools for it and the parts are hard to find for the clutch. its much easier to just replace the compressor all together.

a remanufactured unit costs about 350 at NAPA, or you could pull one at a junk yard for much cheaper.

hth
stewie