As I mentioned in this post I was not disengaging from gear (pressing the clutch) before braking. I didn't understand that the brake wasn't doing it for me. I learned a lot in that thread! But before that (when I was braking incorrectly) I would hear grinding and then the engine would stall (as I understand it). I understand the grinding noise to be some gears moving while others are not - essentially damaging the teeth of each other. First of all am I understanding that correctly? Second of all: what are symptoms of a damaged clutch/transmission/gears? How do I know if/when it needs work?