Rattling sound when in gear, mostly 1-3 gear

So I’ve recently got my hands on a Mitsubishi Galant 2.5 V6 -00 and it makes a rattling sound when in gear. It reduces in 3rd gear and disappears pretty much completely in 4-5th gear. As soon as I press the clutch in, it disappears as well. The previous owner had this problem for a while and it hasn’t gotten worse, it’s just noisy, doesn’t affect the driving at all.
Any ideas what it could be? Drives great but like I said, it’s a bit noisy when in low gear.

There may be something loose in the exhaust system, like a heat shield or even inside the muffler.

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Also could be motor and\or tranny mount(s).

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I forgot to add that the noise increases the more the engine revs, very noticeable in 1st gear but like I said, it reduces as you shift up everytime.

Clutch release bearing is failing.

The noise level may be dependent on the engine RPMs. Which would track with a muffler/exhaust problem.

When I hear that sort of symptom myself, I’m thinking there’s likely some sort of problem with the exhaust system, broken exhaust hanger most likely. If you can reproduce the sound at idle in the driveway, ask helper to walk around the car listening to better ID the exact location. Sometimes it helps to switch between D and R in idle with brake pedal applied to rock the engine a little, and using a length of old garden hose as a make-do stethoscope can sometimes help figure it out.

No disrespect, but if you don’t know the difference between an exhaust rattle/noise and a transmission related noise then you really need to find a good shop and have it checked out, maybe even an exhaust shop, to confirm or deny an exhaust issue…

But sounds like a bearing issue, rather a throw-out bearing or pilot bearing doesn’t really matter, the transmission will have to come out either way and both bearings/bushing should come in a new clutch kit, while it is out the tech can check for play in the input shaft bearing… but if the input shaft bearing is bad enough it should cause the input shaft seal to leak…

Here is a blown out input shaft bearing on the left transaxle and the other picture is what is left of the pilot bearing… fun times, thanks son… lol

Yes the outer race is oblong, to fit the oblong hole in the flywheel for the pilot bearing… lol


It’s definitely not an exhaust issue. The sound is not very noticeable outside of the car. From the inside it can be heard, sounds like it’s from the transmission, so I think the transmission needs to come out. Thanks for the advice mate.