Hi guys. First post and Im asking for things...

Anyway, my buddy has an 03' cooper. Just a regular one, no supercharger, 5 speed. He was on his way home from my house two nights ago and his shifter just went...floppy. He left his car and we went back the next morning and disassembled down far enough to see the linkage on the tranny.

Both cables are connected and the shifter moves the linkage on the tranny just fine. it rotates in both directions and goes up and down like it should, but it never engages any gear. His car is stuck in neutral, and there is no H-pattern anymore, his shifter just go anywhere. You can grab the linkage and turn it manually, but it never feels like anything catches, it turns freely.

Am I crazy for thinking the shifter linkage is broken inside the tranny? i've googled everything I can but everything just turns up broken cables... We have the car in a garage at the moment and were about to tear it apart. I'm trying to make sure were not missing something simple and making a huge mistake.