[Flakbadger]

Hello everyone. I am not completely lost when it comes to car repairs, but I am not what one would call "experienced." The extent of my vehicle repair career has been a water pump replacement, an alternator replacement, and routine oil changes. Therefore I don't really know what's wrong with my car. I will try to keep this as brief as possible.

My car was previously owned by a college girl who didn't know how to drive a manual transmission, and since I bought it the transmission grinds when I put it in reverse. Sometimes it takes a couple attempts to get it to really "lock in" and occasionally I have to let the clutch out part way while yanking on the shifter to get it in reverse.
Also since I bought it, it grinds when downshifting into second gear at any speed over about 15 MPH, but only when the transmission is warm.

Lately it's begun to grind when upshifting into fourth and sometimes into fifth, and more alarming still, my car would not let me downshift into fourth last night on the freeway. I was going uphill at ~50 MPH, and could not get it in gear. In a panic, I went for 3rd which worked just fine.

What is the problem here? I thought the grinding second gear could just be that it was previously abused (Maybe a worn gear or a syncro issue), but this sounds like a clutch issue; like it's not fully engaging. My car has 42k miles on it, I have only ever driven manuals, and I am very gentle with it. The clutch is firm otherwise.

Any ideas? Thank you in advance.

~Matt