My 1999 mercury cougar will not go in drive but will get reverse. however I can drive in 1st or 2nd gear but I can't manually change the gears it will stay in 1 gear what could be the problem

You might try to get a free scan from Autozone, Oreilys, or Advance autoparts. If their scanners will not show a Code, the more complicated Dealer Scanners may.

Some of the transmissions use shift solenoids. The solenoid for 3rd and 4th gear may be bad. Some use speed sensors which tell the transmission to advance to the higher gears. If you can manually reach 1st and 2nd and reverse, the Torque converter is working and fluid is moving inside the transmission.

I think you can call around to see what other places would charge to put a rebuilt transmission in, if yours can not be fixed.

Check the cable under the gear lever. Look for broken pin or missing pin joining the lever to the cable

Hi Don,
If the gears are grinding when selected, first check the clutch adjustment and if that doesn't help you may have a problem with the syncro cones in the gearbox.

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Regards Johngee10

if the friction plate has worn out can change gear whilst the engine is running and it still wont move......needs to be towed.

theirs an adjustment that mounts to the tranny it could have slipped out of adjustment

the gear changing selectors are faulty and needing inspecting for damage ,gear box removal job

I don't have the shifting schematics for THIS vehicle .
However, they are available in the vehicle's repair manual. If you obtain this manual look for what is common between 2nd gear, final drive and overdrive this is your problem.
Remember they source of the problem may require a rebuild of the transmission. You may want to save some time and just give it to a repair shop.

transmission flush and the right fluid

AAMCO is going to love you
coast to coast warenty and free estaments

failing that ( ie cant aford work ) time to hit the salvage yard as they will likely beat aamco with price and use a similar trany from a wreck

Does the fluid smell burt or is it discolored