Noise form a/c compressor
 

99 accord ex-v6 4 door:

I can hear a kindof squeeky rattlely noise coming from what I am 99 pecent sure is from the ac compressor.

when the compressor clutch is disengaged the noise is faint (but still there), when the clutch kicks in the noise gets louder. except for the noise the a/c works fine.

question: with the ac clutch disengaged, shouldn't the noise go completly away? (could it be the clutch portion of the compressor)

are there anything I can check to verify or eliminate either part (compressor vs clutch)

Your compressor noises
 

Remember, when the clutch engages (Ac on), the compressor shaft in side is turning, and the compressor is pumping. Additionally, the pulley bearing is not turning since the clutch is "clamped".

With AC off, the pulley is still turning on it's bearing, and the clutch is not "clamped".

Acguy:
If I understand you correctly, the AC pulley rides on a bearing that is free to rotate when the ac clutch is disengaged. when the clutch engages it effectively "freezes the bearing" and allow the engine to rotate the compressor shaft??

So.... if the sound it present all the time, would that indicate a pulley/clutch problem?

If the sound is present all the time, it kinda means it's not AC at all. The bearings that are spinning while disengaged are not spinning when it's engaged.

Might be alternator bearings?? Doesn't that share the same belt? When the AC clutches in, there's more load on the belt, putting different loads on the alternator bearings.

Or maybe it's just the belt getting old & hard. You can take that belt off to see whether the noise is still there. You'll get a battery warning light, but you can run like that for a little while.

oops... wait, you said V-6. I don't know what shares belts with what. But you can still take off belts to narrow down the noise.

the sound is present all the time, but louder when the A/C kicks in.
The alternator is a new unit (3-4 months old) though that does not rule it out.
unfortunately a serpentine belt runs several items (including alt and a/c), so taking it off will not help differentiate between the alt and compressor, but I could maybe spin the alt by hand and see if it "feels right"

The belt is the original belt, but it looks fine and seems to have the proper tension. The noise is mote metallic that the "belt type" noises I am familiar with.

Serpentine belt? So it's probably got a spring-loaded tensioner & at least one simple idler pulley. Look for noisy bearings in any of those. Poor-man's stethoscope is a short peice of garden hose (18" or so) held up to your ear...

Like you said, running without the belt won't help differentiate. And if that belt runs the water pump, you really don't want to run without it.