Toyota Repair: Shifting problems, shift linkage, toyota corolla

Question
We own a 2000 Toyota Corolla (manual transmission) that we purchased used. The current milage is 76,000. The previous owner more than likely rode the car hard over gravel and dirt roads judging from the amount of road damage to the underside. But, we bought the car four years ago and have had no major problems. We put less than 5,000 miles per year on the car under primarily suburban conditions. The winters here are mild, and have no snow or ice.

Today I had the car out and it behaved normally for the first half of the trip. When I got to my destination and prepared to leave, the car would not shift properly. The gears felt "loose" and wobbly and it was difficult to find ANY gear, especially 2nd and reverse. I was able to get home by skipping second gear, and holding the gear shift in place for the other gears which would hold MOST of the time. I was able to occasionally engage second gear, but it was very hard, and most of the time it would go into position and rev without ever moving the car.

I know this sounds bad, but HOW bad is it?

Answer
Patrica,

This is rare on a Corolla. Hopefully its the linkage. You need to have someone look at the linkage. Its underneath the console. The console is two pieces. One piece goes all the way up by the radio, the other is starts at the front of the seats to the back of the console. Its tricky to get apart, several bolts and screws. I've had them apart several times for other issues. Anyway all the shift linkage is there, someone with experience need to take it apart and inspect the linkage.

Let me know,
good luck.

Tim.
ToyoDoc