I have an 89 turbo II tranny and this weekend I tried to shift it hard into third gear and missed. After, I only had 1st and 2nd gear until I started shaking the shifter in neutral really hard. Now I have 1st,2nd,3rd, and 4th gears but the tranny does not go far enough to the right to get into fifth or reverse. What is the problem besides my apparent inability to shift quickly and accurately

 

Sounds shifter bushing related. Remove the cover and rubber boot from around the shifter, then unbolt the shifter itself. It'll pull right up, and you can take a look at the bushing.

 

Or a bent shift fork.
Thanks Robert

 

That bushing. How do I know if it is bad? Also can I change this bushing with the tranny stil in the car? What about the guide spring, could this be broken and maybe caught underneath the linkage? Can this spring be changed with the tranny still in the car as well? Thanks for the help guys.

 

pull shifter surround and whatever rubber you have left

take the 3 bolts off the shifter and compare it with the pictures from mazdatrix.com
if it is bad, go spend money
if it aint, its either the shift fork or you need to learn to shift...

 

pull the shifter out and look around for any debree from the old bushing, chunks of bushing might be blocking it , if not check the shift lock cylinder thing(looks like a bullet), its on the passenger side of the extension housing, you have to get to it from under the car, theres a big bolt on the back of the extension housing that holds the detent ball, look in the FSM to familiarize yourself with everything, the detent ball slips out and the shift lock cylinder slips forward, but im thinkin its most likely the bushing
very unlikely you bent a shift fork, theres not enough force to bend hardened steel in a shifting motion unless you shift like the Incredible Hulk