99 cavalier z24 5sp stnd. (shifter Problem)

[moneyking]

I have a 99 cavalier z24. 5sp stnd. As i wuz driving my cars shifter stick kept popping out of gear and eventually ended up with only reverse. however, my car moves a cpl inches when in 1st, 2nd, etc. when i let the clutch out slowly, but when i release the clutch out all the way i hear an ugly grinding noise underneath the hood of my car and my shifter pops out of gear again. What could be the problem? I dont think i burned out the clutch cuz i never smelled anything that smells like a burnt clutch. I wuz just driving and all of a sudden this happened.

[J-Ri]

Sounds like the cables are out of adjustment, stretched, or something popped loose. While these transaxles are junk, I don't think you'd loose 5 gears all at once with no warning. My 3rd gear synchronizer had been going out since the day after I bought my car almost a year ago, and finally went out completely about a month ago, and I'm currently about half way through losing the 4th gear synchronizer. From what I've read, it sounds like the shift forks falling apart (sadly, lined with plastic) also takes a while, and that would affect gear pairs, so you'd probably have 5th if you have reverse.