Ok this isn't for my Protege, but since I've had such success getting pretty good guesses of my problems from this board, I figured someone probably has a good idea about this one as well... My girlfriend's car will not shift into gear. She just drove it 2 days ago and it has been parked. 2 Days ago, she drove it through high water to get to her house, and by high I mean 1.5-2ft... Today she tried to go somewhere and it will not shift into gear. Its obviously a manual, and it is in neutral, when I tried to put it in reverse, I can hear it grinding and it won't go in gear... Any ideas would be appreciated...

Jmo

 

sounds like the synchros are shot.

running through water like that can flood the inside of the case and cause massive damage. Why in the world would anyone try to drive through 2' of water??

your best bet is to yank the transmission out, crack the case and see what the inside looks like. It probably wouldn't hurt to drain the tranny and see what the fluid looks like. If it's waterlogged then you've found your problem.

 

well, there was flash flooding in louisville this weekend, and she was driving home... It was pretty bad, 5 people died in Lexington which about an hour away... I appreciate the advice, I'll see what it looks like. Thanks for the help.

 

yeah, that sucks. Check that fluid first...flush it out REAL GOOD but not with water....keep flushing cheap MTX 90 through it until it's clean and then fill it up with good stuff (redline or synchromesh)

 

Is it a hydraulic clutch or cable/lever?

Inspect these as well.