Ford Repair: 98 Mustang gear shift, linkage problem, transmission shop

Question
My 98 Mustang has about 73K on it. I attempted to put the vehicle in park and without warning the gear shift felt like it broke free of something and is stuck in reverse or neutral and I can't put it into any other gear. When I try to shift the gear shift just slides back and forth without any type of resistance that I can feel. I turned off the vehicle and attempted to restart it, but a theft mechanism wont let me restart it because it isnt in park. Please tell me this is not a transmission problem! Could it be only gear shift related? There was no indication before this occurred.

Answer
Sarah-

  Sounds to me more like a shifter linkage problem than a transmission issue (depending on how you look at it since the shifter connects to the transmission via the linkage cable).  You should still be able to start the car in neutral.  It's not an anti-theft mechanism...it's just so that the car can't be started while in gear to reduce the risk of damage to your car or others cars (if...say...your car were to suddenly jump forward or reverse).I'd have a transmission shop check it out and my guess is that they'll just need to replace the shifter linkage.  Hope this helps.

Steve