99 Cougar...I Need Help

:uhoh:
i recently bought a 5 speed 99 mercury cougar. it drove fine for the first few weeks then all of a sudden it started grinding when i would shift. now the car will start but it wont go into gear when car is started. i can put the car in gear and start it and drive it. but if car is already started it wont go anywhere but neutral. i dont know what is wrong. i have a few different people all with different reasons as to why its doing this. if you have any ideas please help me :[

Welcome to Automotive Forums. Sounds like the shifting sychronizers are bad or the hydraulic clutch may not be releasing to shift gears. Also, the hydraulic clutch may need to be bled to get the air out of the line going to to the transmission. If it did this on only 1 particular gear it would probably be the synchronizer but if it does it on all gears it is the clutch not releasing. Having it bled to get the air out and to get a good pedal may work. If it doesn't work you will probably have to put in a new clutch master cylinder or slave cylinder at the tranny. I think the clutch master cylinder uses the same reservoir for fluid as the brake master cylinder. Check the fluid in the brake master cylinder. It is on the firewall of your car on the left hand side as you are sitting in the car.