So, the girlfriend has a 99 Corolla CE w/ the 1.8l engine. It's been running fine, until today - she cranked it up and it started making a loud metal sound. It's coming from the exhaust side, but sounds close to the transmission. None of the dipsticks revealed any metal chips; and I'm thinking it may be the CV axles?

However, the sound got louder in reverse, and while driving to see how it behaved changed pitch as the engine changed pitch, but was still loud enough to hear over the engine as it went through the gears, its an automatic.

I'm not sure what the issue is, and I was looking for some what to look fors, before I dig into it tomorrow..