If I hadn't just recently experienced this myself I wouldn't believe
it!
Last Tues. evening my son called on his way home, a 20 min. drive, &
said his 2002 Neon SXT automatic was making a whining noise & seemed
to be slipping. He wasn't sure he'd make it home. Ten min. later he
called back & said he was stalled on the side of the road & come
rescue him. So I grabbed some transmission fluid & a rag then headed
out. He'd made it about 8-10 miles from work when the car would no
longer go any further. I checked the fluid & the level was fine & also
looked & smelled good. I managed to drive it a 1/4-mile or so off the
paved road when it gave out again. Whirring & winning ever so slightly
but wouldn't move. We had it towed to the dealer. The first diagnosis
was the torque converter, second was the pump after calling other
dealers & looking online for failure analysis. The dealer then
suggested a TRANSMISSION FLUSH saying that about 85% of the time this
works. Well it did.

Nowhere in any Internet groups, web pages or talking to a bunch
of people did anyone suggest something so simple & inexpensive.

Please share this with everyone who might be in a similar situation
thinking that they need a major trans. repair.