for the first time tday my el ghia v8 has gotten stuck in 2nd gear. the weather was high 30s. is this limp mode? there is no indicators on the dash. i parked the car for a couple hours and when i took off again, it was fine. i have noticed lately that the car drifts in and out of overdrive and sometimes when you gear down manually 3,2,1 it does nothing just like in drive. please help.

Might actually be the inhibitor switch on the gearbox that is at fault.

^^^^^
second that

when it starts playing up again, pull over and whack the selector into 1st (not drive) give it a boot, if it upshifts then the inhibitor switch is stuffed. if not well then you have another problem. also check your fluid level.

^^^ +1 for checking trans fluid level.