Well after a week or so of driving, I can now say, I have one 3 gears (sometimes 2).
The other day it wouldn't kick into OD down the highway. I have either gear 1 or 2, I cant tell, but I believe it to be gear 2.
While driving, switching between 1 and 2 does nothing. I cant easily start from a stop in D, but I can in whatever gear 1&2 are giving me.
As I said, OD is kind of here and there.

There is NO grinding, hard shifts, noises at all. It runs very solid, no gear slipping or odd up and down shifting.

I don't want to have to put a tranny in this car (damn car is most likely 65% or more new to get this far), so I am hoping someone recognizes these symptoms, and has a nice easy fix for me. lol

I haven't had the chance to get it up and drop the pan, and this weekend I just found out I am working Saturday :(.

I hope this tranny doesnt give up the ball game before then.
Thanks for your time :)

I would say your 1-2 shift solenoid is stuck off. That's the only way your transmission will only have 2nd and 3rd, but not 1st and 4th.

Is there anything here about tranny troubleshooting that may have a picture or some light information on this matter? Is it something that the average joe might be able to take and release/replace? I know nothing about transmissions except pulling them off and putting them on. Never even taken the time to look at any to see how it ticks.

Thanks again Dan!

It's not something I'm willing to do as a write up, sorry. It's simply a high skill job and not to be taken on by the average shade tree mechanic. The job is easy so to speak, but requires you to either remove the transmission, or lower it enough to get the side pan off. Replacing the solenoid is simply pull a pin, and it comes out. But again, getting to that point, making sure everything is clean, and putting everything back is far from easy.

Do you have any codes? Make sure that you have 12 volts @ pin E on your transmission case connector.

That's a good point, however I believe he mentioned it's hard to get going from a stop. Guess we should ask is the engine loading up, or is the transmission slipping real bad. If that's the case there is a fuse that may be labeled (Misc engine OBD2). Each year this fuse is in different places, but may be on the passenger side under the glove box.

Well I don't know about the voltage to that pin right now, but we did just go through the whole car and fixed any questionable wires (including around the clips).
The mechanic never said why it was starting (in D) in the 2nd gear, but he did confirm it is happening, and it should be my last problem....finally!! the light at the end of the tunnel lol.
How do I go about checking for voltage there?
When I accelerate in D, it will either pic up and go fairly well (not ideally), or it will be like starting in 2nd with a standard. Very boggy and labored.
As soon as it enters an acceptable RPM for the gear its trying to use, it evens out nicely and runs well.
As long as OD kicks in on the highway I am good. If not I have to use D to get home. The car seems OK with it, but at like 3500 rpm, it eats a lot of gas compared with he 2000 rpm it hits in OD.

So a tranny shop or a different tranny is in my future? If anyone would be interested in giving me a few details on this job, I would be very interested. I am more than willing to take the information as it is, tips and help, without crying if it doesn't work lol.

Thanks again

This should be everything you need.

https://www.gmforum.com/howto/transmission/page006.jpg

Sweet,
Now to see what kind of trouble I can get into Muahahaha!

Dan, you rock.

If there is no power going to pin E, the car will have 3rd gear starts.

There may be 2 different fuse boxes too! We found one fuse box under the glove box on an Olds 98. It also had the fuse in question and it was not labeled very well.