So my brother “learned” how to drive manual and asked if he could take my car for a spin. As we were driving he went from fifth gear (which he had prematurely switched to) to first. This occured at about 35 or 40 mph. The car kind of jerked and a mechanical clicking could be heard. The clutch feels fine, and I can switch to all gears it seems, but when I let out the clutch, the gears won’t engage, and the car can only be revved. This comes with a clanking noise. Any ideas? I’m hoping its not an internal transmission issue!
Start with simple stuff. Turn the wheel to both sides and try to shake the half shafts. If they are both tight, move on to rule out the transmission.
With the engine off, windows down, clutch pedal out, and stick in neutral, have your brother push the car with listen for any weird noises. All gears are in mesh and they would turn and make noises if anything is loose.
40 mph in first is bad but may not be destructive to the transmission. But it’s probably faster than your clutch’s friction disc could handle.
After the clutch test it might not be a bad idea to drain the transmission oil to see if any chunks of metal come out with the oil. I could think of several things inside a manual transmission that could lead to a problem like this.
That would be far easier than going into the disassembly of anything; at least for the moment.
"Put the car in 5th gear and try to “drive off"
If the engine doesn’t stall, your clutch is a goner” These words are db4690’s, not mine. - It might be the clutch but a half-shaft could be broken as well.
It is very likely you exploded the clutch disc. Most of the friction material will be gone from the metal supports. When your brother shifted into first, the disc began to spin at ~9000 RPM which is too fast for structural integrity.
The transmission is probably okey although some life was probably taken off the first syncronizer. But, drain the transmission; check for metal pieces; and do any repairs to the transmission while it is out for the clutch replacement.