So pretty much every day now, either first gear or the reverse gear wont go in. Normally a little sequence of 2 "notches" and the gear slides in to where I know it is in gear. Now it feels like it just hits a wall and doesn't go all the way into gear and more so half way. I play with the clutch and after 2 or 3 pumps the gears are viable again. Just once, I thought "maybe it is in gear"....slightly inch the clutch out and I get that horrible grinding noise. Pumped the clutch about 2 times tried again and presto. What causes this?

 

Slave, master, both, air in the lines, or failing pressure plate. Bottom line is that you are not getting clutch disengagement.

 

If you haven't you might wanna check the fluid level in the master cylinder first...sounds like a Slave cylinder issue to me. When you replace the slave, replace the Master as well because it will go out after the slave, usually.

 

Might be the master or slave on its way out, take a look for visual leaks is step number 1.
2nd try bleeding the slave.
If its not bleeding out and the pedal firming up, then take the line off the slave and hold it in a bucket, get someone to press the clutch pedal over and over and see if the master is even pushing out fluid still after a few pumps (even a bad master will push/pull whats in the line but not whats in the reservoir). If it isn't and the line just drains you probably have a bad master or a master on its way out, I just had to replace mine a few months back. If it shoots out fluid like there is no tomorrow on each pump, then master is OK and its prob the slave.
I tried replacing the slave first and it didn't work, thats when I realized I could just test the master like that with the line off the slave, and the master was bad. Or you can just replace both but the master is the pricey one.

 

Thank you guys for the info. I'll probably do all of this after finals unless it gets very bad then I'll have to get a shop to do it as all my free time is now study time. For now I'm just doing what I have to to get the car into gear. How much are we talking money wise for these jobs?

 

Chances are, your slave is leaking fluid. You can keep adding fluid to the master but it still will leak. (obviously) And the clutch will still show issues.

 

The issue of a slave or master going out...does it physically harm any other component of the transmission? I should have enough time tonight to check her fluids and top them off if they're low.

 

Shouldn't hurt anything besides losing brake fluid.

 

You can cook the synchros if you keep driving it with the clutch not disengaging.

 

^^ this is true, If you like to put it back in first when you are inbetween that first and second speed stop doing that until you fix it, with the clutch not fully disengaging you don't want to mess that 1st gear up. other than that shift slow and you should be fine but you may wear out the clutch the longer its like that, unless the few pumps you give it in the morning solves the problem temporarily, but likely its going to get worse over time and you may find your clutch pedal on the floor one morning. Just be aware at this stage it can go out even when you are driving and then you won't be able to catch another gear without some grinding action and then usually a tow back home if you are not fortunate enough to have it go out in your driveway.

its not that bad of a job, just a little messy. aftermarket slave is like under $30 and an aftermarket (centric) master that I used was closer to $100. I didn't go oem because it was double price and would take extra time to come from the warehouse at the dealer here but no issues with the new master or slave. works great in fact. and the master rebuild kit is not worth the hassle or time, its usually the cylinder wall that wears on the master itself. I tried the kit because they had it in stock, and it did not work, huge waste of time I tore it down several times trying to get it to work.