Your shit's fucked.

lol jk...maybe. Usually, as in when people including myself, have posted with similar symptoms it's because the shit's fucked. The shit being the transmission.

What you're describing can be many things inside the transmission, and sometimes outside. Maybe a kinked cooling line into the radiator causing pressure drop and not allowing gear application properly. That will in turn cause overheating, which explains the fact that your car will work after you shut it off and let it cool down temporarily. so check those lines.

Are you checking the fluid level correctly? Might sound like a stupid question, but there's one way to check it and about 15million wrong ways to check it. So make certain you're checking your fluid level with a normal operating temp, the car ON, the transmission in N and, of course, on a level surface.

Pull out the stick and wipe it off onto your hand, it shouldnt be hot. Check for any sorta blackish/gray metal flakes contrasting onto your hand. If there are some, don't freak out, it could very well be just normal wear and tear depending on your transmissions age.

However, if you've got a crap load of metal showing up with each dip, assuming you've repeated to check, then you might be a redneck, i mean there might be something wrong inside your trans. OR, if you've got like 200k miles on your transmission the magnet in your pan may just be filled to capacity and not capable of trapping anymore metal flakes. In which case you'll need to have the pan dropped and you could clean it out, replacing the gasket AND the fluid when you reinstall it.

Ummm lemme think, you can search some old posts by Joe B Slow, my old screen name, and check out what happened to my transmission. My differential busted through my torque converter housing and made a huge mess. We'll cross our fingers that isn't the problem, i highly doubt it is anyway. I think it's pretty rare to actually have that happen, although the possibility is there with the weak design of the differential.

ummmmmmmm if you need any other help or explanation IM me on AOL at brohymn411. hopefully this was enough to help you.

Joseph