Wife took the car out for a spin today. I received a call about 15 minutes later that she was stuck in the middle of a parking lot and the car wouldn't shift into gear.

When I arrived, I could put the car into gear with the engine off, but not while the engine was running. There was also a smell that I couldn't identify coming from the vehicle.

She says that she was having trouble finding first gear and may have driven out of the neighborhood in third gear as the car was driving slow.

The clutch pressure feels normal. Car runs fine. Just no ability to shift while running. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

Sounds like the clutch might not be disengaging all the way, which is often a result of bad slave IIRC. Try putting the car in 1st, then start it up and see if the car will creep forward a bit even with the clutch fully depressed. You might also notice the engagement point seems much earlier in the pedal stroke, both symptoms would be classic for incomplete disengagement. The upshot is that the slave (and the master, for that matter) are a fairly cheap and easy DIY fix. The downside is that bleeding the slave 100% is a supreme pain in the ****.