This was taken yesterday, but applies to today.

Was supposed to have my car towed in this morning...

One morning just over a week ago I suddenly started having trouble getting the car into reverse.
I've always had sporadic trouble with reverse so I didn't think too much of it, and I got to where
I was going that day without any more problems.

I took the car out again on a short errand and didn't notice any real issues, but my radar was on high alert for anything abnormal.

About a day later I went out to the garage with the specific intent to just test it
in the drive to see if I could get it to reproduce the grinding, to decide if I needed to get it in to be looked at.
It shifted pretty good, but there was just something "off," so I went in and scheduled to take it into the shop within the next day or so,
with no more plans to drive it until it had been looked at.

Went to pull it out of the garage that morning to drive it over to the shop, and it was completely seized up.
Reverse was just a horrible grinding and I was locked out of every other gear.
Crap.
Went in and called the shop to cancel.
With the Labor Day holiday they couldn't take it until yesterday or today.

In the meantime, I did some research and I figured it was probably a problem with the master cylinder.
Thought about it, and thought, well, if the fluid has leaked out, maybe I can fill it enough to get it over to the shop,
and save the cost of having it towed.
Went investigating the location of the master cylinder, and...
the above is what I found. Nasty, dirty, and empty.

Two pieces of paper towel and about 10 cents worth of brake fluid later:



Pumped the clutch a few times and the grinding seemed to ease, then went away, and I was
suddenly able to get it in reverse and was no longer locked out of the gears.

Shifts like buttah.
Better than it has in a long time...and no wonder.

I like my mechanics, but apparently when I've asked them to "check fluid levels" they clearly didn't.
The coolant level was below minimum too, so I topped that up as well.

Just goes to show, even if you know nothing about cars, it never hurts to be interested in learning
about them, and to double check whatever you can - even if you think the professionals are doing their job.