Spitz - that's comforting to hear and to know I'm not just paranoid.  I'm going to tinker around this weekend and see what's up.  Hopefully I'll have more to report back on towards the beginning of the week.  Wish me luck.

I had the exact same spec car as the OP has....from memory, at 100kph I was just touching 4k rpm.
Something is up with his car.....it's not just someone not used to the revs  :-)

This was on 12" also.

My car did indeed slip between 3/4 also....but got really bad...luckily I had a spare manual box and engine

Adjust all the bands.
If it still slips on the upshift 3>4, the top & reverse clutch is probably on the way out.
However, I had a Morris 1300 automatic for 4 or 5 years that always did this, and it didn't get any worse before I sold it.

I have 12" wheels and the slip comes when going into 4th.  It stays in 4th gear fine. 

With 10" wheels, gearing is about 14.7 MPH/1000 rpm in 4th, as I said before. Does it keep slipping once into 4th, or just during the shift?
It may need a new top & reverse clutch if slipping, sadly the whole box has to come to bits to do this. It's in the middle... unlike the forward clutch which can be done with the motor still on the box.

Yes, on all account. I have manually shifted up and down through the gears and it does as you describe in your post.  The slip I originally eluded to is between the 3 and 4th gears - but that may be the "top clutch" as I have heard mentioned (back to that later).

That partly explains the issue, and with the gearing in it may explain the high RPMS, but with 4 gears should it be screaming that high at speed?  I'll tinker around with the shift cable and govenor rod this weekend and see if it perhaps is holding the throttle open.  Aside from that, it seems to be just a gearing question.  Man, I love learning about cars.  I Appreciate all the hel.

Note: 1st gear is freewheel, there is NO engine braking. So it won't scream when you downshift until you step on the gas.

It could be the shift cable is slightly out of adjustment and you are not actually getting D? But if it upshifts gear to gear in D, 4th is working.

Another thing- there is a top and reverse clutch in there. If it slips, you will get 1-2-3 but then no 4th (or reverse, either).

While driving - have you manually Downshifted the car to really count the gears...

Upto speed- in D

slip to 3-  does it rev up

slow down - slip to 2 - does it rev up

slow down slip to 1 does it rev up and your're now cralwing but screaming.?

No change between 3 and D = not going into 4th.

( ive never driven or worked on an auto - ) im not a professional - But when driven right- they will keep up with a Manual anywhere ( wound UP! )

Yes, you are right. All are 1-2-3-D (D is 4th when you get to it). The major functional difference between early and late boxes is late ones have Park position.

Yes, I've only had it for days, not months, so perhaps this is normal.nthe previous owner says that it was he was running as well. The speedo is accurate, based on a side by side run with a friend and no tickets from the friendly JPs here. Maybe it is a 3-speed and I'm imagining all this. It does have the 1-2-3-D shifter which in my mind would equate to a fourth gear. Am I right?

All mini automatics are 4 speeds.

Matt 998cc auto's run closer to a 3.7 FD they are very revvy if it is the one with no park which i think is a 3 speed, i believe the four speeds with around a 3.2 FD came with the park feature in the 90's.

On another thread he mentioned 5500 @ 80kph (roughly 50mph).  That sounds like third gear territory, but Msmall says it's hitting all gears ( meaning 5500 in fourth ).  Unless the speedo is off, way off, 5500 would be close to 90mph ( if close to a 3.4FD )

The bands can be adjusted in the car but the front cover needs to be removed for access.

What are you calling "absurdly high rpms"? I'm guessing you have only owned it for a month or two?

The 998s are pretty low geared. Diff ratio is 3.26 but the drop gears are 1.15:1. So, overall the gearing is 3.76:1. Around 14.7 mph/1000 rpm, not including any converter slippage.

Yup. 10W/40 went in and nothing else (or so the previous owner tells me). I've read over and over about how often to change them.  No big deal, after all, it's just oil, right?  I have noticed a few slips now that you mention it, but nothing crazy.  I'm more concerned with the RPMs being so high. 

What oil did you use? Autos need regular 10W/40 (depending on climate) mineral oil, no friction modifiers, definitely not synthetic base. Otherwise, the clutches and bands slip.

[edit] Oil change interval- factory said 3,000 miles, I'd say 1,500. These autos hate dirty oil.

Some very savy forum membes have eluded to a technique for adjusting the shifter on the auto gearbox (1989, 998cc).  Mine is running absurdly high RPMs and not sure why.  It is hitting all four gears, idling at 1,000 RPMs and the oil was changed less than a month ago.  I'd like to keep the auto (happy wife, happy life), but don't want to deal with it, if it continues to give me issues.  Any thoughts?