All,
I've done a fair amount of searching and this one is weird to me. the shifter stick has been getting stuck and with a push goes into gear and works for a while.
other day, its stuck in some limbo gear.
clutch is working because i can start the car when it's pressed in but it dies when i let the clutch out, but with the clutch pushed in, the car won't roll. we can't move it. and yes the ebrake is off.

Manual Transmission, D2A4, i believe.

anyone have this issue?
thank you for your help.

fyi this isn't my car but i'm trying to help a friend figure this out and fix it. again thank you for your help

 

Sounds like shift cables are broken. Pretty common.

 

if it was the shifter cables, wouldn't the clutch being pushed in still allow the car to roll?
i believe the clutch is working

 

Oh right I missed that part. That's interesting. I'm not sure then. Maybe someone else will chime in who has had a similar experience. In the mean time I would recommend troubleshooting individual parts to narrow your search for the problem.

 

I was going to guess clutch replacement is needed or at least inspected by taking it apart. If it's really worn out the cables might not be able to engage properly (or they could be broken as well, as suggested above).

 

but then you wouldn't be able to start the eng with the clutch peddle pushed in. i've read from other forums about the shifter lever or piece broken but that wouldn't stop the car from rolling while it's parked.

 

Sure it could, just has to break and fall in the way. I've had it happen before, just not on this car. A disintigrating clutch can lose springs, clutch material, etc and jam in anywhere.

 

you are saying that when you push the clutch in, it will allow your car to start but when you let the clutch out, it dies due to the load on the engine and that can be a bad clutch???
the driveway it is parked in is an upward slope, so it would roll out into the street quite easily if the clutch was pushed in.

 

 

The issue happens when the car is put into reverse. But it misses the spot. I had it towed once. The tow truck guy couldn’t get it to roll, so he pushed hard on the stick and it popped out of the stuck position. Then it was fine. I’ve done this 10 times in the last ten years. This time I was late for work and it required extra effort to attempt to release the stick. It finally moved but not internally, only I think parts in the stick broke. So it’s stuck in a place not reverse but in a gear.

 

Paula is the person who's car is having the problem and i'm trying to help fix.

 

In any scenario you are describing you are going to have to pull the transmission to look at it. It's going to be something like damaged syncros, messed up fork, clutch material, worn gear, worn linkage, etc. Its' the transmission/clutch. Pull it out so you can look at it and see what's happening. None of these scenarios is something you are going to fix without removing the clutch at the very least, and the whole transmission at the most. I'm sure as you tear into it it will become obvious what's happening. It has to be something serious to get stuck like that.