2005 Mazda 3 Wont shift into 1st gear, reverse is stubborn

I have a 2005 Mazda 3 2.0L automatic.

Issue:
I can shift into the park but it does not set the park pin. The car still rolls.
It is very hard to shift into reverse. I almost have to shift past reverse to make it engage.
Cant get past reverse, 1st gear is too hard to push the lever too.

I had this happen a few days ago but I was able to pop it back into reverse and first. Then it seemed like the issue was gone but when speeding up from a stop, there was a notable noise. It sounded like a what-what-what from the transmission that got louder as I sped up. the harder I got on it, the louder the noise was.

It drove fine last night but today, it would not go into gear.

So far i have ..
Changed the transmission fluid (fluid was dark brown but no metal particles in it)
Changed the fulty turbine input speed sensor / pulse generator
Checked fuses and all seem fine
Reverse lights come on, park shifter selector solenoid in car works fine

Not sure where to go from here. There was a bang and it sounded like the transmission was trying to throw itself into park with a loud clicking noise days before all this started. Im wondering if its a broken park pin causing all of this?
Any help much appreciated!
 
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I would suspect transmission linkage issue. But the "bang" seems to be a really bad sign.
 
Update:
So I got in the car tonight. It was still stuck in park. I shut the car off and put the ignition in the run position with the engine off. I shifted the shifter to reverse and park a few times. Then I gave it a good hard pull to drive and there was a noticeable popping noise which I think came from the shifter in the car... not 100% sure but fairly sure.

Now it drives in all the gears again like nothing ever happened. Nearly perfectly fine however...

The car still rolls when in park. Im hoping the cable just needs an adjustment.
The passenger side tire seems to slide move in and out. Axle maybe causing issues in the transmission?
 
yeah, I would get under it and take the console out to find the source of this issue. I don't think the transmission itself is the problem.

Or take it to the dealer/mechanic and have them diagnose it. It may need to be on a lift to figure it out if there is something related to suspension.
 
yeah, I would get under it and take the console out to find the source of this issue. I don't think the transmission itself is the problem.

Or take it to the dealer/mechanic and have them diagnose it. It may need to be on a lift to figure it out if there is something related to suspension.

That's what I was thinking. Now that it's drivable, I'm going to see if I can drive it down the road to my friends place who has a lift.
 
It looks like a mechanical issue. One day, many years ago, my RX3 transmission became unlinked. I went underneath and found that a bolt was missing so I temporarily tied the shifter and transmission linkages together until I could get a new bolt.
 
So I got the pan off and the valve body off. I'm not sure what's loose or what? Anyone with transmission knowledge maybe take a look?

 
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