I'm taking an on ramp coming home from work, and I suddenly see/feel/hear the rpms shoot up. DAMN IT! I was hoping for the best, but then sure enought, the "check tranny" logo pops. on.

With the exception of the onramp, she felt fine. I put two and two together, and figure maybe she's low on fluid. I checked it when I got home, and nothing is even shown on the dip stick. I'm a mustang guy who just bought this car as a dialy driver, and really know nothing of it. I figure I can pick up some fluid at autozone/napa right? How hard is it to fill the tranny? Why do I have a feeling its going to be a b**** to fill? Oh, and after crawling under the car, I can see it does appear to be leaking fluid. Its not enough that its dripping, but enough that the tranny area is wet with fluid. Even worse, I just have a bad feeling about this requiring a trip to a shop, and a big hit to the pocketbook :'(

Any advice/comments are welcome.

Oh, btw, its a 97 civic EX.