I have been noticing strange sounds from under the hood - especially when the engine is cold. This morning, as I was pulling out on a busy street leaving for work, the transmission slipped and the car felt as if it had stalled but the engine was still running. The CRUISE light turned on for some reason. I was going less than 10 MPH. I turned off the cruise and checked to make sure it was in gear then carefully continued forward after stopping. It lurched and grabbed a bit then acted almost normal.

I was able to get up to highway speed and the transmission seemed to hang in a higher rpm than normal. It finally normalized and I was able to get to work, which was about 10 miles away. The SERVICE ENGINE SOON light came on. After getting to work I checked the symptoms online and found there were many similar stories out there and some much worse, like shutting off in the middle of busy traffic trying to make it through an intersection before getting T-Boned. I don't have the money for a new transmission ($4K) or for a new car. I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't want to drive a car that is unsafe.