2003 saturn ion manual transmission only 4th gear works
 

hey guys! i have a 2003 saturn ion with 160,000 km on it with the manual 5 speed and i was on the highway one day with cruise control, everything was fine and then randomly my vehicle got louder but i kept going and then it starting makes noises, and i let it pass and thought it was normal since its an old car. and then randomly the cruise shut off and i felt the manual gear shifter and it moved very easily and it just didnt feel right. i pulled over on the road as it wouldnt speed up anymore, i shut it off and later i turned it back on and turned around to go home and i noticed 1st and 4th gear were fine, while the shifter doesnt want to go into 2, 3, or 5 (it feels hard and the shifter doesnt wanna go in), i ended up getting home safe and i drove around with only reverse, 1 and 4 working. i then noticed after a couple days sometimes reverse wouldnt work at all, it would barely move, or sometimes the shifter wouldnt go in properly. it also stopped moving in a couple intersections and i also smell a burning smell coming from it now so i decided to get it fixed. right now it works in only gear 1 and 4, reverse stopped working now too, the gear is stiff and doesnt want to go into reverse and even if i get it into reverse some how it doesnt move.

any tips or clues? is the whole tranny done? or is it hydraulic or something else.

Check the roll pin.

Although if you smell burning the slave is probably shot.

how do the shift cables look?

thanks for the reply! I’ll take a look, is there anyway I can check if the transmission is done for? Like how do I find out that? Or does it seem only other things are bad

I suggest checking the transmission oil for metal flake, disconnect the cables at the transmission and see if you can find all the gears. It may be all external problems clutch slave and master and or shift cables. Or it could be the transmission ran low on oil and came apart inside. I would inspect the lube oil in the transmission first.

tyhanks i also wanted to add, when the car is off, i can put it into every gear with and without clutch, does that change anything or still the same problem?

I would check the condition of the oil in the transmission and go from there.
Andy

If you have all gears with the car off, its probably the slave or clutch then.