Help with clutch noise

2006 Taco, 90k miles, 4 cyl, 5 speed, original clutch. At the end of the clutch release in 1st and 2nd gears there is a short duration noise that sounds like a heat shield rattling. Only happens in 1st and 2nd gears, and usually under load.

 

It probably is actually a heat shield. Check your exhaust system.

 

Already completed the exhaust check. A loose shield likely would not rattle only in 1st and 2nd gears, and only at the end of the clutch release. Definitely a mechanical noise, I just used the "heat shield rattling" as the best description of the noise.

 

Why do you say that? Heat shield rattling is a result of sympathetic resonance, so the vibrations around that rattling component must be within a particular range of frequency and amplitude in order to create the vibrations.

In other words, that it happens only in first and second at a particular time SUPPORTS this theory, it certainly does not contradict.

You need to check for loose heat shields very carefully. It doesn't take much movement to allow a component to vibrate.

 

I began experiencing that same noise you describe after my exhaust was repaired. Just left it and hasn't gotten any worse.