transmission or cv joint?

Yesterday when i made a u-turn, my 97 626 started to decelerate and had a hard time getting past 20 miles per hour.also when you release the gas it apppears to be breaking on it's own. For the last month whenever i would make a turn i could hear a clicking noise and it felt as if it had either a flat tire or unbalanced tire, all on the front passenger side. I have had the car since march 2005, has about 70k mileage now, i bought from a personal owner. the transmission always seemed to have problems getting into the second gear, from the day i started to drive the car. but nothing was ever found to be a problem. now i look at the fluid and it is brown....not normal of course!!! so what happened to the car yesterday i am trying to find out if the cv joint is more likely the problem or do i need a new tranny or both? please respond back if anyone here might know. of course i am not driving the car right now. thank you!!!!

oh also is new belt, replaced by an experienced mechanic supposed to squeel at startup?