Noise has me worried....

[Dirtjump9]

Recently my 4AFE has been emitting a strange noise and it has me worried. It happens when I accelerate and when I let off the gas and it sounds like a rattling or some sort of grinding... It's hard to explain. I first thought the cover for the exhaust manifold was loose and was viberating or something but everything there looks fine. It seems as if the sound is coming from the back of the engine (near the firewall). It really has me worried even there is no check engine light or any loss of power.
Anyone have an idea on what is going on inside my engine?

[freakinbox]

check the cover on your cat...

[REN69]

yeah.. sounds like exhaust related.

[Burger_AE102]

If you're driving a manual, it could be a thrust bearing problem. Or anywhere else in the drive line for that matter. If you're finding it had to get the clutch to disengage compeltely theres a good chance its the thrust bearing (AKA clutch throw bearing, or clutch bearing or anything like that).

[Dirtjump9]

I'll go and check under the car later. When it first started happening, I also though it was exhaust related but it seemed like it was coming from inside the engine. I hope it is just something simple like a loose bolt.
Oh yeah, it's an automatic so no thrust bearing. I wish it was a manual however

[Dirtjump9]

I pulled up all the boards over the pit the other night and hopped down to have a look. Fortunatly, it was a simple fix. One of the bolts on the heat sheild right before the cat had rusted through and snapped off, thus causing it to viberate. I replaced the bolt with a new one and also I placed a hose clamp around the pipe and the sheild so just incase it happens again, it won't viberate and drive me crazy.