A/c Woes

Purchased ‘07 Prius w/ 159K miles. Had cold air during test drive but then a couple weeks later no cold air. Looked through maintenance records and found that an A/C recharge was done in Nov/2022 w/ “Freon R134-a, a/c service valve, and a/c dye/oil”. A couple times I heard the strangest sound in the dash by steering wheel as if a bunch of water like a small waterfall in a pond was coming down..looked for leaks w/ UV light. Didn’t find any leaks but there seems to be one?

Decided to take it to the same shop that did the recharge originally (in Nov/2022) before I purchased car but instead of getting to the bottom of it they just recharged it yet again and sent me on my way. I asked if the compressor is ok and he said “yeah...its blowing”. Now car has 165K miles and has been blowing cold air but I’m scared of compressor failure. Trying to figure out if the best course of action would be replacing oil, fixing leaks, and recharging or actually replacing compressor IF it’s towards the end of its life

QUESTIONS:
1). How many years or miles do Gen 2 Prius owners typically get out of a compressor?

2). What happens when the compressor fails in a bad way. Does the evaporator core need replaced? If so, does the dash come out or is it under the hood or below the dash?

3). Am I supposed to be able to hear the compressor when the a/c is on? Because I do hear SOMETHING but perhaps not all the time.

 

Yes everything is fine now and no bubbles in the inspection window.