I have a 1997 Continental with a strange transmission problem. Start it up, put it in gear and it does fine for a few minutes. It even shifts gears (I get it up to third on my driveway without taking it out on the road). Then I come to a stop and it's like the transmission is in neutral. No forward, no reverse. Here's the strange thing, I shut off the engine, immediately start it back up and the car goes into gear and takes off again. I thought the filter/pickup tube may have fallen off into the bottom of the transmission pan, so I took off the pan and indeed it had fallen off. I replaced it, but the problem is still there. I wonder if this might be a computer problem. Anyone ever heard of this?

im having a similar problem where if i drive it will go into first gear but it clunks noticably hard. then after that if i give it gas, nothing. But it does reverse fine, never had a problem with that. This started all of a sudden on me.. I wish we could get some help

I guess the fluid level is ok, I would get a scan to see if a tranny code pops up.