My t5 shot?

In my experience, when a transmission gear goes, its usually a lopsided break, and the trans will vibrate like hell when you have the car in another gear. The only real way to tell, I guess, is to take the trans apart. You're going to have to anyway, to fix second!

Exact same thing happened to me while I was in school a few years back. Shredded 3rd gear the very last day of summer, and the car had to sit until the following spring on jack stands with the bottom opened up. I ended up saving my pennies and dimes (broke college kid) and bought an Astro Performance "Cobra" T-5. Flawless performance since! It did suck to go without the car for so long though.

I have also rebuilt my own T-5 before. It takes a bit of patience, but with a torque wrench, a dial indicator, and a good how-to reference (video or book) anybody with half a mechanical mind can do it.