shocker

I've posted this in problems and fixes-- Anyone here have any ideas?

Just when I was convinced that my tranny was mostly unscaved.. It takes a dump when I'm 3 hours away from home - on business. I knew I should've went with the company rental car.

Anyway, after about 30 mins or so of driving with a jerky, slippery tranny with my rpms all over the place, sometimes near the red line, I notice the smell of burning (engine) oil. Surely enough when I checked the oil level it was a little low so I added a quart and promptly took it to a local Mister Transmission shop (for you Canadians out there).

I'm used to adding a quart of oil every couple of weeks but I'm not at all used to the burning oil smell.

Now (2 days later) he tells me that the problem is with the the "lock-up" solenoid that apparently sits inside the tranny. He says that this is a 450$ "dealer" part.

He quoted me at $2500 for the rebuild... At this point I was afraid to ask about the burning oil problem... I'm hoping it could be a broken seal or something. Does anyone know if there is gaskets, seals, or anything else near or related to the tranny that could cause me to burn oil??

I should mention that I've got a '98 2.3 auto with 177 xxx km.