Trans Trouble

Looks like everyone is having their fair share of this right now. My transmission has been engaging gears really hard at acceleration from a stop, sometimes makeing the whole car "jump" ahead. This morning I went to start it and there was a scraping/grinding sound coming from under drivers side hood. Am I in big trouble or is it something that a fluid change and filter change could help?

That could be the starter making that grinding sound. But fluid changes are very important to automatic transmissions, many people overlook that and end up paying the ultimate price, and then they go on bitching about how much they hate their cars. Do a fluid change and call me in the morning!:)