[Xcellr8]

Boxster with 5 speed manual that is new to me, with no available history. Meaning I have no idea when clutch was last replaced.

With car on jack stands, and motor off, the tranny will shift into all gears.
With car on jack stands, and motor running, the tranny will shift into all gears.
With car on the ground, and motor off, the tranny will shift into all gears.
With car on the ground, and motor running, the tranny will only go into 3 and 4th (never tried 5th). It will not shift into 1st, 2nd, or reverse.

On the road, with only 3rd and 4th, there is no grinding with those two gears, and when I try to find 2 in a downshift, there is no grinding, just won't go into gear. So I thought it was a shifting linkage problem, EXCEPT that it goes into all gears with motor off.

Since it finds all gears with the motor off, while on the ground, I believe motor and/or transmission mounts are okay.

With car on the ground and motor running, when I try to shift into 1st, 2nd, or reverse, there is no grinding. Oddly enough however, when I tried to shift into reverse to back out of the garage, the car would go back a few inches almost like it was in gear (which it wasn't though it may have been close). Strange.

With car on the ground and motor off, put tranny into reverse, depressed clutch and tried to start. Car would not start, but it would roll backwards a few inches as the starter motor was slowly turning the engine. So, I thought it was a clutch problem.

Tried bleeding the clutch, no difference (but allow that my method was not the approved pressurize the system)

Now, I am not sure what I have. A bad clutch (though no grinding), or bad linkage (though it finds all gears with motor off), or do the mounts change with the motor running (meaning I discounted that item prematurely?)

Obviously, I am confused. Can you help?

Thanks,
Joe