1997 Bonneville SE starting and RPM problems

hey there - as mentioned I have a 97 bonneville with 170k. no problems for the years I've had it. had the spark plugs and other smaller things removed and replaced with new.

ok problems. car starts fine and i'll make a small drive to teh store. then come out and it won't start. when you try it cranks over and gets right up to what seems like the last step...and no matter how many tries. go back to it a few hours later, it'll start right up. but sometimes when you drive it a little longer you won't face that problem.

Next would be when accelerating from a stoplight and it geared through the 2 gears, but before hte 3rd or last one, the RPMs just shot up with no more speed acceleration.

any advice is great. if it's major i'm just going to get a new car

You need to find out is there is spark and/or fuel pressure when the no start event occurs, the trans is a different issue by the sound of it, is the fluid full does it smell burnt?

replaced the crankshaft sensor and the problem has been eliminated.