Dear spdrun,

I'm sure your advice to check and change the transmission oil and to make sure the clutch is fully disengaging will prove useful later. However, respectfully, I'm pretty sure neither of these will affect the problem I have to fix first. Here's my thinking.

This issue happened abruptly. I drove home from work without issue, parked it in the garage as usual, and everything was working fine. I went out the next morning, started the car, tried shifting into reverse, and found everything I've already described existed. Clutch in or out, shift rods not connected to the transmission and engine running or not, with a drill bit locking all three levers in the neutral position, I cannot slide the shifter left or right in the neutral position at all.

If I then carefully remove the drill bit so as not to disturb the three levers, while the rods are disconnected from the transmission, I still cannot slide the shift lever in the neutral position. Nor if I lift the shift lever will it move to the left so shifting into reverse doesn't work, either. It's stuck in a position that allows shifting the 1st-2nd rod only.

I'm still thinking there's a cause I've not yet detected for which transmission oil and clutch functionality are not a factor.

Thanks very much for your taking the time to consider and reply!