My father's car has a little over 100k miles on it with no modifications. Was a daily driver for a while, but has only seen sporadic driving the past year or so.

Last night I was driving the car with no issues until I tried 3 point turning in a neighborhood (after about 15 miles of f freeway driving). In a neighbor's driveway I stopped and put the transmission in reverse, but it did not engage; it was like being in neutral. Free rev up if you blipped the accelerator, but a noise and judder similar to anti-lock brakes/collision detection engaging when rpm's were lowering back down to idle. I turned the car off and on trying to getting the trans into reverse a few times with no luck (fyi, when putting it in park, the car would roll a disconcerting distance forward before park would engage, I would estimate a second or two, so a couple feet probably). I ended up pushing it to the street to just get it out of the neighbor's driveway. I'm not sure why I tried one last time then (by then 15-20 minutes post initial problem), but I did, and the trans engaged in both reverse and drive. Unfortunately, I can't be sure if I lost drive as well, or only reverse when I was in the driveway.

Btw, no dash warning lights at any point in time before or during this. Anybody have any thoughts?

This forum has been a great resource in my little time with the car over the years (notably when diagnosing the fuse --> aux pump issue that plagued many and shops/dealers just wanted to replace the board and/or fan at exorbitant cost) so thank you.

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First, check the transmission fluid level and check the electrical connector for leaks.
Second, you might need a fluid change, and possibly a conductor plate change.
Could also be an intermittent open in one of the solenoids, hope not.