Thanks Trannyman.

OK... I have more info now. The wife told me it *is* pulling the car when the "bump" happens. I have not verified as I almost never drive the car, but riding in it when it acted up, I suppose that is possible (what she says now) even tho it seemed to be grabbing into gear. Is that the TC lockup? Doesn't feel quite like the TC lockup in 1st that would happen with a 350-C on a V8. It's much harder & quicker.

I used to do a good bit of automotive work. But as could be expected, getting married, buying a house and having a kid ruined all my fun. Now many jobs are farmed out to the garage due to lack of time. And as such, costs have increased by an order of magnitude.

As for 4T65E experience, in the 2000 Impala,
#1 failed at ~80k cost $3k to replace.
#2 failed at ~110K cost another $3k to replace.
So MTBF = 55k miles
We're now at 135K miles with $6k into the tranny = $0.04 per mile overall cost of 4T65E ownership
But since it had 80k on it when we got it, and the 4T65E failed within 2 weeks, our cost of ownership of the 4T65E is $0.11 per mile.

We bought the '04 with 88k in September, maybe put 5K on it, and the cost of 4T65E ownership looks like it may be recalculated soon.

I did own a 1990 Bronco II 4x4, with which I did tow a 4000# boat trailer a couple of miles per year, and it did have an A4LD, which failed twice at about 80K and 130K miles. It had around 20K when I bought it. The first one got a bench job at the A place for $800 and did R&R myself. The beauty of the non-transverse mounted engine is evident here. When #2 failed, I replaced it with one from a 93 Exploder for a cost of $400. 6 years after giving it to my dad he still drives it with probably 160K on it now.

So A4LD MTBF = 65K miles
Cost of ownership = $.01 per mile.

I'm not quite convinced the 4T65E is a better transmission, just a more expensive piece of crap. But such is the nature of business to get things to market as quickly as possible, at the lowest cost. If the warranty is 36K and it lasts 37k then they're covered. In my most recent experience, both GM & Ford have become quite adept at zeroing in on the 100k planned obsolesence mark (about 120K when everything starts to break).