Well. I took the tranny to shop had it scanned and nothing showed up. said it was good to go, when first gear was slipping..

tranny attendant said that very likely "clutches" are gone... and told me that the electronics did not show any problems...

I was quoted $1200 for rebuild.

took van to different shop and was quoted the following.

$200.00 to inspect and find out what is wrong
$200.00 torque converter (pump)
$200.00 Control Module
$50.00 each input and output sensor
$300.00 for rebuild kit
plus labor and fluids

made it sound like total would be close to $2000.00

I guess my questions are:

#1. will mechanicals (like burnt/worn out clutches) really not show up?

#2. how difficult would it be to rebuild tranny if I purchase the overhaul kit and the overhaul manuals? Would I need any special tools (presses) or anything like that?

If the clutches were "gone" then it WOULD have a high CVI (clutch volume index) That means, the amount of fluid it takes to apply clutches. Basically if the clutchs were gone then the piston(that applies clutches) must travel further to make them hold, therefor more ATF is used and the computer sees this. This WILL show up on the scanner.

Where are the "hard parts" prices(planetary gears, ring gears, ring and pinions and more)

A rebuild kit does not rebuild a tranny for you. It goes way beyond that...

mmm.. if it needs more than that an "overhaul kit" then it might not be worth fixing... $1500+ on a tranny for a 10 year old POS might be too much..
It might just be time to take this one to the junk yard...
finally an excuse/reason to get a mustang to drive to work...