Shifter Issues

[takza]

It's possible that your car was under water for awhile and the trans could have water in it?

[SirNik83]

There’s not a lot you can do with the transmission in the car. I know a lot of people who never take the tranny out, or never take it apart when they have problems. The quick fixes I’ve learned involve lots of oil and oil additives.
You should be sure the transmission is full of clean oil. you can put some "power shot" into the oil... its for engine oil, but its basically a detergent... you can also fill it with ATF and then if you can get the gears to turn... like push the car back and forth with it in gear and wash the gears like that... drain the ATF and then put in the clean oil... but if you can't even get the shifter into gear, sounds like its time to take it apart. Use the manual. It will tell you every step you need to rebuild the transmission... it’s not hard to work on at all. Just take your time and do it in a clean place and keep track of your parts.

[xirdneh]

Curiouse qustion I never check the oil level in the transmission yet gunna when the wind stops here but would that stop the car from shifting. I would think so but i am not sure and i dont want to take the transmission out not yet at least until i get a better place to work on it. also were can i get ramps it would make working on the car much easier.

i had something similiar happen to one of my toyotas but not nearly as severe as yours. it looks like you had a lot of water get into that compartment via the shaft & bushing. i wonder how mush water passed into the transmission?
when you drain the tranny from the lowest drain plug the water will come out first as its heavier than oil. if no water then the color of the oil should tell you something. i suspect water has got into the tranny and froze something up.
is that mystery part plastic or nylon. it probobly was the bearing surface for the bottom end of the shifter and plugged into the hole on the tranny shaft.
working the shaft in and out whilst oiling it and sanding it usually gets it working again. but like i said yours is severe so who knows what all is messed up.