rattling from tranmission area of my X

I have a 2000 Xterra XE, and i recently noticed a rattling from the area around the transmission, sounds like somthing is lose. I havent had a chance to look yet, but i am driving to missouri on saturday and i would like to try to stop the noise myself, any ideas?? Thanks

SW,
My guess is that it's a loose or broken heat shield...best to get under there and wiggle things around to try and find the culprit.
However, if you fear it might be a transmission problem, please supply some info on the type of tranny you have.
Additionally, does the noise occur at particular rev points? When accellerating? When cornering? When braking? At idle?
Bogatyr

Can you hear the sound when you are in drive (with your foot on the break)? And does it get louder or the same if you switch from drive to reverse(again with your foot on the break)

Yeah, more info would be helpful here. Could be anything from a loose wiring harness to U-joint, to clutch, to gears, heat shields...

I can bet that anyone here would think their tranny was quiet after hearing mine though! :rolleyes:

I've got a heat shield rattle at exactly 1500 rpm...happens consistently right now in the mornings when the engine is cold.

Local dealer is having a hard time getting it in the right spot to make the noise stop...they last touched it and made it almost completely stop rattling but it's still there a bit.

Frustrating but they should figure it out soon! :-)

update on my issue. Dealer adjusted the heat shield and that helped a bunch but that I also have a noise from the catalytic converter so they're ordering a new one.

Hopefully the rattling will go away.

not sure at what rpm its at, but it only makes noise when i am bearly pushing on the gas pedal, or sometimes if i am heading up a hill and its in the lower gears, its an auto trans. I am praying its not the trans, but when i got an oil change the looked around and said they could not find anything loose.

I have a rattle too when I accelerate very lightly. Sounds like it's under my feet. I'm sure it's just a heat shield. Probably doesn't even have to be loose, just very close to something else and then the vibration is enough to make it rattle.

Mine's a 5 speed.

Every time I checked my heat shield, everything seemed snug and tight. Got fed up and removed it anyway, turned out there was a slight crack on top by one of the bends.. no more rattle.

Replaced my exhaust soon afterwards, it looked ok, but a few seams were going fast on top as well.