auto transmission intermittent freakout

'91 escort, 1.9 engine, sorry don't know the tranny number offhand, no problems with trans until lately, around 180K miles, occasionally will suddenly rev like it downshifted but smoothly, no jerk. car continues to run, will go back into gear when it feels like it (always very brief problem), then may do it again or not. sometimes when hot, sometimes not, mostly at high speed but not always. dropping the pan to look for interesting parts revealled only a small phillips head machine screw.. any ideas?

Those are known for freakouts :wink:

Did you change the filter?

Clutch packs for 4th gear could be worn, low fluid or fluid pump could be bad. If this is the original tranny with that many miles it's time for an overhaul.

Don't know much about trans, but if that was a small screw, that might have come off one of the sensors or selonoids maybe. Not sure if the access panels for all the stuff is accessible on that trans. Anybody think this problem could be caused by such electrical components that might be loose as this is an intermitent problem?