I have a 2-door, 5-speed, 96 blazer 4x4 with 4.3L engine. I bought it used almost two years ago with 72K miles on it. Eveything has been OK until recently when I hit 97K miles, then eveything started to break down. However, the 5-speed transmission has always been loud, especially in odd gears (1,3,5). Recently, I've encountered problems shifting gears, all they want to do is grind. At first, I thought the tranny was about to completely go, but I checked the fluid resevoir for the clutch (or whatever its called) and its full of sediment. Also, I noticed upon engaging the clutch that some high pitch squeeking noices started to come from the transmission area. Does this sound like the tranny? Or is it possible that the clutch or some other component is bad. I know I need a new tranny, but would hate to buy one only to find that the problem could have been resolved by replacing the clutch or cleaning the fluid resevoir.

Thanks,
marcus