Ok, to be completely fair (to me) you've got to take into consideration a few factors. 1) This is, after all, my first car. 2) That transmission dip stick is very cleverly hidden behind the engine. 3) Nobody ever told me to check it!
So, as things turned out, it appeared that there was a dramatically low amount of ATF (automatic transmission fluid) in the transmission. In fact, we're not even sure if the previous owner of the car (my grandfather) had ever replaced any of the fluid either. I can't be entirely blamed, can I? Yes, I suppose I could, but the good thing about this whole experience (which I will explain in a moment) is that it was another great learning experience about the things that make a car work.
As for the what happened? Well, let's just suffice it to say that during my job hunt Saturday, my car would not start, I ended up getting a jump (assuming apparently partially correctly?) that there was something wrong with my battery. I headed to get Dante from John's house, and headed home. The trek consists of about an hour of expressway. About ten minutes from home, at a stop light in the ever lovely town of Lima, the front of the Taurus began smoking. Afraid of not being able to proceed further upon stopping, I kept chugging along. Then, afraid of inevitable explosions resulting in Dante and my deaths, I pulled over about four minutes from the house. The smoking lasted another 20 minutes, before my brother and mother showed up to pick me and Dante up. We attempted to start the car again, which actually didn't need a jump as we assumed, but upon shifting, moved absolutely nowhere.
This revealed the possibility of transmission problems. (Good grief!) We gave up and headed home with my poor car parked on the side of a road next to a large looming cornfield. (Suitingly, today I deemed the car 'Scar', in reference to huge gouge down the driver's side.) So, once we returned to poor old Scar, we put 3 quarts of transmission fluid in, and miraculously, it started like a dream. I was waved on by my mother and her fiance to drive, drive like the wind. Upon returning home, we put another 3 quarts of transmission fluid in, and even then, the dipstick revealed no word of any transmission fluid.
So, we headed for Wal-Mart, bought another 5 quarts of the miracle juice, and with the addition of one final quart of it, Scar is now at full with the ATF. Angels and demons rejoice!
Today, I did some testing with the car, and it seems fairly reliable. Could it really be that the only problem with the car (of late) was a severe and entirely unimaginable lack of transmission fluid? Apparently so. We first presumed there was some sort of leak, but upon leaving a piece of cardboard under the car all night, revealed no leakage. So, this begs the question... how the hell did that car run for the 3 years I've had it if it really did degrade to this point? I suppose we'll never know.
tl;dr
