One more...

When the A/C engages it growls at me --kind of a whiny growl-- and A/C performance has fallen off. Compressor going bad?

could be... any leaks???

Should I be looking for oil spray around the compressor pulley?
Thanks for replying

i dont think so, but i'll get back to you on that.

Ok, here's what's wrong. Your problem should be the compressor clutch. When it becomes worn, it will whine upon startup. So your compressor shouldn't need to be replaced, you just need to replace the compressor clutch.