dewpoint

Hello, I 'm having two issues, one started quite awhile ago. When we first get in it and back it out of the driveway (reverse) when I very first put it into drive, I give it just a second and push the throttle a bit but the tranny "stalls" and cluncks/lurches into gear with a shimmy thud. It will then drive normal. We will usually use the key fob to start to car in the garage for a few minutes before we get in so it's not totally cold. And this happens in all seasons anyways. And it's random. I've learned to mitigate this by putting in into D drive first for a few seconds then back out in R reverse before finally putting into drive to leave. It will then act normally. What's with this?

The second issue is more annoying as a driver, when driving for awhile at about 35mph at 5-10% throttle, the car will go into 4th gear and the RPMs will be from about 800-1100 depending on exact speed. Well this is too low and it has a lugging feeling. This has been going on for about thee months now. What's weird is that when it shifts too low and is lugging, you can lift your foot off the accelerator and the RPMs will jump up to 1,200-1,300 and settle right back down. The car will go back into 3rd for a few seconds until it shifts back into 4th too low. Very frustrating as I will normally notice this while going up a shallow grade (1% or so) which is all the way home. Very annoying.... what's up with this?

The car has about 80k and is a 3.5l. I did a tranny fluid service at about 65k when the D thudding started to occur. I'm dreading a transmission crushing my pocketbook soon. thanks.

EDIT: Oh and no engine light on, will codes show without the engine light?

tech2

condition #1 low fluid level; check the trans fluid level to make sure its not low.

condtion #2 check with the dealer to see if there is a programming update for the tcm.