2001 Pathfinder won't go into reverse or roll backwards in neutral??

[BrokerJ]

I am a newbie to the forum. I have owned my 2001 Pathfinder for 3 years. It has 220,000 miles on it. It has been pretty reliable minus the usual stuff for a car with 200K plus. I have gotten my usu out of the vehicle for the 5K I paid for it a few years back. A few days ago my mother who now drives the car was driving down the freeway at highway speed when she heard a knocking begin and felt drag on the motor. When I had the vehicle towed home it would not go into reverse. It will physically shift into reverse but doesn't engage. Nor will it roll backwards in neutral. The car drives forward just fine. It does make a grumble like sound and when in Reverse it sounds like a rock or something is rolling around in the trans. The car has been very well cared for. cosmetically it looks good and minus a small oil leak at the valve cover it runs great. I fear that the transmission will have to be pulled out and repaired. If so I imagine it will be $2000 when all is said and done. The car isn't likely worth much more than that with these miles. However before this issue it was a perfect running car. My mom will be driving another car in my fleet. I have always wanted to lift this car 2 to 3 inches and make it an off road toy. Or I may just fix and continue as daily family driver. Does anyone have any ideas as to what may cause this? Is the transmission completely shot? Should I rebuild or replace? Any suggestions are very appreciated Thanks

[4xq]

I would look at car-part.com. Input your vehicle info - you will need your vehicle production date off of the door sticker - and select transmission as the part.

Trannys are as low as 250.00. You can sort the last column by distance and find wrecking yards close to you. Then just choose the best part grade / mileage / price combo and call them. Check what type of warranty they give you - most are 30 days on trannys I think. Just pull the pan before you put it in to see if there are any indications of problems

Not sure where you live, but you can probably find a straight transmission swap fairly cheap. I personally would not do a 2,000.00 rebuild with those miles, but it is the old question of what appears to be the best way to go from your vantage point.

Hope that helps!

[BrokerJ]

Thank you for your input. I am very unsure how to proceed but it sounds like there are few other things that can cause a failure of this sort beside the transmission.