Ok I just heard back about the tranny. There's some for sure internal issues between gears 2, 3 and 4. They said that shifting 1-2 is fine but occasional slip from 2 -3 and a lot from 3 -4. They checked the fluid and it was low and burnt they said. I check that regularly, well at least when I drive it, and it's been ok. SO I'm not a mechanic but that tells me that something is causing it to use alot of fluid.

So the next step is to tear it apart and figure out exactly what is wrong with it, which they're doing now, and then we'll know what exactly has to happen.

I'll update more when I get more info.