The rack would be a good bet to have gone out. They do go out fairly often on our cars(not nearly as often as MAF and Crank position sensors though) and your logic on the tranny seems like it very well could be. Try posting the tranny question in the tranny section. Usually the trannyman will help out in trying to answer these types of questions, or you could PM him as well if he does not respond to the thread. He is a sponsor on here and builds tranny's that kick but for our cars and last forever. He represents Triple Edge Performance transmission's...good luck. When was the last time that you did a tranny pan drop and replaced the filter?