Throwout bearing was my thought as well. When you press the clutch pedal in, it moves what looks like a big fork and that fork presses against the bearing which then presses springs for the clutch disc. All it is, is two rings pressed together with bearings in-between. It isolates the stationary fork against the spinning movement of the clutch assembly. So if it's noisy it'll probably only be noisy when you've depressed the pedal. ** Your transmission fluid is not supposed to come into contact with or lubricate this part at all; at least with the '94/'95 trans design. So changing it would have no direct affect. (indirectly that might make the transmission operate cooler)
Don't know that they necessarily have a life span so-to-speak ?? Still have my original manual transmission parts approaching 240k. Just replaced the Master and Slave clutch cylinders a few months ago.
** Mine might've made a little rattle sound when I released the clutch pedal while in neutral. (vibrating against it's "axle") Hadn't done that in years though.