97 Stratus Tranny trouble

Maybe you folks can help me out. My wifes 97 stratus is having some auto tranny trouble. She can be driving along and the tranny will slip out of gear and then back in. If it where only for a brief moment I might say tough it out but I have driven it and had it slip out and stay out for 5 or 6 seconds before reengaging. Also there is a whine coming from the transmission, kinda sounds similar to a blower whine and is in tune or time with the ramping of the tranny. As the car accelerates up through the gears the whine increases in pitch until the shift and drops back down only to raise in pitch again each gear change.
Hopefully I don't have to replace the transmission. I have already done one on a caravan we had and it was not fun. I cant imagine this being any easier.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks Paul. :banghead:

there are several things that could be wrong w/ your wife's car. The solenoid pack could be starting to go, thus the slipping and tough time engaging gears. Second, the last time you had a fluid & filter change, was Mopar ATF+4 used? If not, you'll have transmission problems again b/c these transmissions are very sensitive to the type of fluid you use in them. Use anything else and you'll have problems. Third, the whining sound you describe is that of a worn oil pump. That unfortunately requires the transmission to be taken out to fix that.