Next Step Sell Or Keep

If anyone here can help you, it’s probably @gearcruncher

 

Being at 211k miles, it's likely just the clutch. Start with a replacement as others have suggested and go with a quality kit by Luk like the one Bassackwards listed. I don't know if selling it will result in another used vehicle that will be as reliable as your current Tacoma after repair. Keep it or sell, you have to fix it to get top dollar for the sale. You will get most of repair costs back if it's in good running condition versus getting haggled at a loss in it's current condition. 4WD Tacoma is an easy sell.

 

Parking brake on trans in neutral engine running let out the clutch foot off the pedal does it make a noise? If it does lightly touch the clutch pedal see if it goes away. Manual transmission generally do not make intermittent noises it either there or it's not. If there is an internal bearing noise it will go away in 4th gear but be there in all others.

 

Yes it does make a noise with trans in neutral and goes away lightly pushing in the clutch.

 

Yours should be an aluminum case early ones with an iron case were terrible transmissions and usually didn't make it 30K.

 

Release bearing. Time for a clutch assembly.

 

When you mash the clutch pedal to the floor , the release bearing is placed under load and will make the most noise when you have your clutch pedal pushed down.
Put a large screwdriver to your ear and place the opposite end of the screwdriver up against the shifter , then depress the clutch pedal in Nuetral
This works like a stethescope . You are hearing 1 of 2 things . Either the release bearing is making noise or you have bearings inside the transmission that are causing you some grief.
As mentioned above , if the noise goes away in 4th ( direct drive ) chances are you need a clutch kit with a new release bearing

 

I'm voting for cluster gear bearings or cluster gear teeth. As mentioned above, 1,2,and 3 go through the cluster gear. 4th is straight through on the main shaft. 5th is probably separate gears in the back. (strictly speculation based on other types of transmissions I've had apart) When the OP mentions that the noise goes away when pushing the clutch "slightly", you have to wonder if his interpretation of "slightly" is enough to stop the trans from spinning in neutral. If it were mine, I would drain the trans and look for silver sparkly stuff.

Again, strictly speculation, but if it is the trans, I would bet that with fresh fluid, it could possibly go a long time before catastrophic failure.

Disclaimer: a "long time" could be 500 miles or it could be 10,000 miles.