I had a shop pull the pan and reported that there was little dirt and the bands and clutches were all within spec. I was hoping they might drop the valve body and find something but they suspected a hardpart failure toward the rear of the tranny and called for a rebuild. Very decent of the guy to try and he didn't charge me. In a slightly different problem I have noticed the tranny is taking about five seconds to engage reverse(when cold) and I have been told that this is a more typical failure which will eventually result in total loss of revererse and require a rebuild. My plan moving forward is to drive it the way it is until it stops. Meanwhile I will try to find a good deal on a lower milage used tranny or a rebuilt one. I bought a "rebuilt" tranny for my 96 ford ranger and it didn't last any time at all. Any thoughts on rebuilt verses used?