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I think it can be verified by reading that sticker on the hood.
Hopefully someone smarter than me comes along and guides you to a conclusion
The "other" thread I mentioned in post 2 had mentioned the mass air flow meter as the last area they delved into, which is where the electrical wiring in your intake tube is located.
Maybe cleaning it with air flow sensor spray cleaner will help. Just don't touch the internals with anything other than spray. Check your air filters while you are in there.
FYI:
you also are missing the part of your air box that picks up fresh air from the front of the hood. Unlikely it will affect performance, but it isn't as designed.
If you search there are many people who have *added* a switch to control TC lock up.
Manual-Off-Automatic
Some do it for testing reasons
others just because....
Ended up having to get a new solenoid pack. $850 !
I suspected that after searching the symptoms. I'm wishing now I had done it myself for around $300 including fluid and filter. I hope this will help someone else in the future.
Recap: I couldn't shift from P or N to D or 2 or engine would shut down. I could shift to R ok and I could shift to 1 and manually shift to 2 and D as I got going. Once in D the transmission would work properly but I had to manually shift to 1 before stopping.
Specifically, the problem was the torque converter clutch solenoid which locks the torque converter together at a certain speed through a clutch (but you have to replace the whole "pack" of solenoids). When it fails it stays in the locked together mode but only in D and 2 for some reason.
Update to the update. I jumped the gun by saying that the solenoid pack was the fix. The Aamco guy was convinced that it was the issue and replaced. Fortunately he was more than fair and didn't charge me anything since he hadn't fixed the problem .
After much more researching, I started following the wires from the solenoid pack to the pcm. Low and behold, the previous owner (a ford mechanic) had installed a switch in line with the wire coming from the solenoid pack to the pcm ... and tucked it neatly out of sight. Apparently it hadgotten bumped and was in the on position. Turned it off ... problem solved.
