another Automatic transaxle/cooling light issue

Occasionally I'll be driving and the car shudders, all gauges shut off, and that light comes on for a second, then it goes back to normal and starts driving again. The light doesn't stay on, it's only on for a few seconds at most. Anyways, today the car stalls right after that (at about 40). I coast into a gas station and try to restart it. It trys to turn over, but acts like I am out of gas (no, I wasn't out of gas ). I checked the chip to see if somehow it came out or moved, nothing. I finally disconnected the battery, and drained what was left in the system with the brake. I reconnected everything, and it started up fine. I think it has to do with the ecu because the lcd would usually show mileage if it was just a problem with fuel, but it just had dashes.

What exactly happens to a focus when the tranny starts giving up? I would be accelerating and when it shifts gears (while driving very conservatively) it wouldn't shift until high rpms, then it would shift up only to shift into what sounds like neutral, then shift down, then back up. This is when the light came on, then later stalled.
I'm not too worried about the tranny, whether it dies or not, but I don't want it to be a problem not related to that particular ecu or tranny.

I did a search btw, but I couldn't find anything that actually has an answer other than take it to the dealer.