Tranmission Problem....Needs Advice

["Hipolito, Ephraim" <Ephraim.Hipolito@hexcel.com>]

Hi Folks,

My '87 5 K  auto transmission decided to test my patience lately. A few
weeks ago I noticed that the gear won't engage right away when I put it on
"D" and also the car will jerk just a wee bit after the gear had engaged.
During the same period, a whining sound was coming from underneath, right
below the shifter. These occurrences happened mostly in the morning at
first, I guess the engine and transmission were not up to operating
temperatures yet, so I thought. It just progress after that, and the next
thing I know was the gear will get stuck on 3rd (gear) for a long time and
will shift only after travelling 10 or so miles.

Last Friday, the inevitable happened. As soon as I got on the freeway, while
on "D" the gear just disengaged as if it was on neutral. I had to down shift
to "D2" with the engine revving quite high but this enable me to get to
work.

Can anybody tell me what's happening with my transmission? Any help,
suggestions and recommendations will be much appreciated.

Thank you in advance,
ephraim
Dublin, CA