So, as I was headed out, cruising around 90 mph (I friggin love this highway), my speed sensor decided that I was not moving anymore. The odometer followed suit. I says to myself, "Self, this speed sensor ain't doin it's jorb." and noted that everything else seemed just fine and dandy. A couple minutes later, the ECU decided it didn't believe the speed sensor and turned on the Check Engine light. Nothing seemed affected, still had loads of power and ice cold A/C and such. I wasn't worried, I was still going to be on time for my appointment.
Or maybe not. Another 20 minutes or so later, while cruising along, tranny spat the selector out of 5th and left me rolling. This was where it started to disturb my outlook on the situation. I attempted to shift it back in and re-engage the clutch, and it spat right back out again. Hmm.
Coasted down a bit and estimated where I thought I could safely try and engage 4th gear, tried it out, and it seemed functional. Interesting. So, I pulled off to the side and called my doctor to cancel the appointment, checked tranny fluid (seemed as though it could use a bit, but not terrible), dug around and found gear oil, then couldn't find a funnel, so aborted altogether. Continued back along the highway until I saw a relatively drivable median through which to U-turn (exits are really far apart 'round here) and began the trip back in 4th gear. My GPS was telling me I was cruising at 55mph now.
So, couple hours later (3?), about 20 miles outside of Elko, the transmission clunked - felt like I briefly jammed on the brake pedal but I did not - and started making speed-related tapping noises. I immediately pulled over to the shoulder and noticed a strange thing. Even with the stick in neutral (as far as I know, anyway), the engine seemed as though it was meeting with resistance and having trouble idling - until I pressed the clutch in, at which point it idled fine. Let the clutch out, it got worse, and then stalled. It was then that I tried to shift through the gears and discovered that I could only find two valid positions: "neutral" and "5th" - all other positions met with extreme resistance that I did not feel as though I should push through.
I tried to start the car again to move it more off the highway, but at soon as I let the clutch out it stalled again. I tried starting it again and attempting to start off in what I thought to be 5th, the car moved slightly but then clunked again, spat out of 5th, and stalled. I decided I did not want to risk any further damage, and attempted to push the car in neutral off to the side more. I discovered that I could not push the car myself. It wasn't until my father showed up and pushed the car while I held the clutch in that we got it moved to a safer position. And, while the car was being pushed, the tranny clunked BAD every couple feet, with the clutch all the way in. It feels like it's physically no longer lined up with everything somehow.
Anyway, I'll be preparing the trailer and winch to go get it, which will probably happen in the morning. Once I get it back here to the hotel I will crawl under it and see if I can notice anything but I'm not very confident. Not really sure if I have any questions at this point, or if anyone would have any suggestions, I'm just really bummed and not sure what will happen yet...
