2009 Clubman manual transmission.
I was driving this morning changing gears as usual and all of a sudden I heard a pop and the car was coasting. No 1-6 gear or reverse. I finally had a closer look at it and it seems that the linkage is working. The clutch moves the linkage on the transmission housing and the gear changer changes the gears on the transmission housing. All of that seems normal so I don't believe it is the linkage lines going from the trans to gearbox. All of that seems pretty tight. It must be something internal. Anybody have any idea where to start? What is under the shifting mechanism on the transmission housing?

 

Something of a wild guess, but I'd suggest a broken driveshaft. I think one can pop out of the diff.
If you start the car with the handbrake firmly on & put it into gear, you might be able to see something rotating on the defective side.

 

Are BOTH shift cables working as intended?

 

Yes, both cables are moving like they should. Nothing is broken on either end of the cable.

 

I believe if that happened the car would have wanted to pull to the side. Right?

 

Furnitureman9
If this refers to the driveshaft, 'no', unless you have a limited-slip differential.
I'd try running the engine in gear & listen for whirring noises.

 

I have a Wavetrac LSD.
If I put the car in gear and let off the clutch you can barely hear anything in 1-2 gear. Just a faint whir. In 3-6 gear you can hear whirring sounds that progressively get louder and faster sounding as you change into the higher gear.

 

What happens if you jack up both front wheels? With the car in gear, can you rotate one wheel but not the other?
With it out of gear, does rotating one wheel turn the other?

 

ok,
So the front wheel are up off the ground.
With the car in gear They both move independently. The drivers side turns like there is nothing connected. No resistance. Like if you turn it back and forth fast you don't hear a sound. The passenger side turns independent and if you turn the wheel back and forth fast you can hear and feel the cv axle connection plus it has some resistance. With it out of gear it's pretty much the same thing. Maybe it is the cv axle.

 

Sure sounds like it!
Better than a gearbox rebuild!

 

Well, it was the cv axle. It popped out of the transmission. I put a new clip on the end due to the fact that it was a little chewed up. Looks like the very end of the cv axle splines were worn down some and had metal shavings in the transmission splines.
I've put the axle back 3 times now and it keeps popping out very easy. Could it be a problem with the boot needing to be repacked? Seems like it is now too short. Any advice would be great!

 

Pictures might help, but my experience of such things is damage to the circlip is normally caused when it's not central in the groove on the inner CV joint when the driveshaft is inserted into the diff gears.

I normally pack a small amount of moly grease into the groove to prevent the circlip from moving as you insert the shaft, unless the inner face of the diff output is damaged, it shouldn't matter if the leading edge of the CV joint is slightly worn, unless the circlip groove is compromised.

In any event the length of the insertion of the CV joint into the diff is determined by the position of the circlip, and as there is a sliding tripod joint inside both inner and outer CV joints, this negates any minor length differences, which will be measured in fractions of an inch

Brian