[DesertCritter]

2002 Ody.
Great! the one thing I was worried about with this car finally seems to be materializing.
I got the car at 65K miles and according to the service records, it had the fluid changed at 45K. We're up to 91K now and I haven't done a fluid change. I know that's bad, but the mileage really snuck up on me.
It drives fine most of the time, but this happens a few times a week, maybe once or twice every other day. Usually at the beginning of a trip, it usually happens right after starting from a stopped position, when moving 20-30 mph and trying to accelerate the engine will race for a few seconds until I realize what's going on and take my foot off the pedal and then it will engage back into gear. It's usually fine after that.
I purchassed an extended warranty when I got the car from the dealership 2 yrs ago, so I still have 1 more year's worth of warranty. Obviously I know that the fluid needs to be changed promptly, but my worry right now is that if I change it, and then take it to the dealership, that the fresh fluid might help the tranny temporarily and mask a possibly serious problem with the tranny. So I'm trying to decide whether I should first change the fluid? or just take it in as it is.
If the tranny is on it's way out, I don't want them to "not find a problem" and then as soon as my warranty runs out to find that it's shot for good.

 

[DesertCritter]

thanks all for the replies. I took it in to the dealer and they kept the car until they were able to duplicate the problem (make the transmission slip) then they made an appointment and took it in again yesterday morning. They just called me to tell me they're going to be replacing the tranny, and the extended warranty covers all of it (including car rental) except for $100 deductible. This makes me a super happy camper. This particular dealership, while the sales department has been a bit of a pain, their service dept, has been nothing short of awesome. they've done work on it before and they've always been very professional and I can tell they know what they're doing. Whatever we paid for the extended warranty, it looks like it just paid for itself WOHOO!.