I seem to have this problem with my 2nd gear in my 2002 cavalier base model 5-speed. Anytime I try to shift into 2nd gear at any rpm, the tranny grabs the gear, and stays in gear no problem. But when I try to accelerate in 2nd gear in my car at any rpm, it grinds and jumps out of place back half way between second and neutral or all the way back in neutral. I have been told before that it is my synchromesh or shift synchronizers, or that it could be my shift fork being bent out of place, or all of the above. I do not have this problem with any other gears, only with 2nd gear. I was just wondering if I could get a second opinion on these symptoms and how to maybe go about fixing this problem. It has been going on for so long now (almost a year) and I'm tired of shifting from 1st to 3rd all of the time, even though I'm so used to shifting from 1st to 3rd now. I did however, shift very hard when taking off from 1st to 2nd all the time for the longest time when I first got the car about 2.5 years ago. But for almost a year now, it has been having this problem. Any help? Thanks in advance.

You most likely took out the 2nd gear syncros. Happened last year to me at the track. Had to replaced 2nd gear and the syncro.

i agree, i say its the synchro. i also had a 2.2L sfi in my 2002. my tranny did the same thing one night when i was going out to meet some friends. was driving normal, went from 1st to 2nd and it popped out of gear. tried to put it back in gear, let off clutch it was fine. started to give it gas and it popped back out. so i know exactly what your going through. i had a buddy check it out that builds trannys and told me it was gonna cost a pretty penny. i got lucky and found an ecotec motor and tranny for the price i could fix my trans for. so i did a motor swap. i also used to shift hard at our local drag strip from 1st to 2nd. missed it a few times getting used to the car and everything. so i know how it goes. good luck with it though.

Yeah, that is exactly what my tranny is acting like. Atleast I'm not alone I guess lol.