It will grind like a "Learner" while you are trying to get it into the wrong gear, but just won't go in. If you got past the lock out so that the stick goes into the reverse gear position on the stick, just imagine lots of sparks of metal on a grindstone. That is the kind of damage you hear. It will handle some of that...but if you do it all the time and with FORCE it will make a "kachunk" sound as you break the gear teeth off. Then you broke it good. But you really HAVE TO FORCE IT to get there.

You just got a notification that the transmission does not like your shifting method.

. Hold onto the stick lightly and it will find the next gear down missing reverse completely. I use one finger and hook it behind the stick and pull backward. I assume that 5th is forward right.

Then 4th is center back, Reverse is locked out as it has a block in the way. It just slips in like silk on grease.

"If you can't find them, grind them"....is the comment used for a newbie on a standard shift.

If car still moves forward and reverse, you are fine.

No, a little grind is ok. Just don't make a habit of it. My car is a 6 speed manual, my wife's is a 5 speed. I've gone for 6th gear in her car a couple of times and ground the gears. It's no big deal as long as you aren't doing it all the time.

Might have shaved three or four miles off the car's lifetime -- maybe. (If I had a dollar for every time I ground a gear on my old Celica, I could have paid for that clutch replacement at 160,000 miles.)

That's why I tell parents of learners that they need quality synthetic transmission fluid so that it protects better than petroleum based stuff - besides the freezing temperatures that around the corner. (Don't tell me you live in Florida or California.)

It is impossible to get it fully in.... You ground the gears there is no damage

I'm learning to drive stick as i was going 55 i slowed down trying to downshift the car ended up going to reverse i pressed the clutch immediately but i heard a grind sound did i just damage my car badly?