94 automatic idles like a vw bus and bucks too

hey there. my 94 rodeo with 130K seems to be having two problems.
1) from the moment i turn on the car there is an intense clicky noise that sounds similar to the idle noise of a vw bus, only not as loud. perhaps it sounds more like a baseball card that's been put in the spokes of a bike. regardless, it gets louder when the car is in park. it speeds up when i press on the gas pedal. when the car is in drive and i'm stopped the noise goes away? it's gotten louder and faster over the course of the week.
2) i fear my transmission may be going as well. when driving at normal hi-way speed the other day the rpms all of a sudden reved up and i lost power to the car for a brief moment. then yesterday the problem happened again, only this time the rpms seemed to rev up and then the car itself slowed down. along time ago i had a honda civic that did the same thing right before the cruise control went out? i hope it is that more than transmission problems.
thanks for your time.

The noise issue sounds like an exhaust leak. Most any exhaust shop will check that out for free for you. The power loss / transmisson slip issue could be any number of things. Since the 4L30E automatic trans. Relies fully on electronics to function, any voltage drops will cause issues with these trannies. Make sure your battery, battery terminals, grounds and alternator are 100%. Hopefully you've done ATF changeouts on the tranny as well. They dont last too long with out them.
G/luck
Joel

hey joel thanks for the info.
for the ticking problem i was told that it might be a lifter as well.
yeah i've kept pretty good care of my tranny over the years with regular change outs of fluids and filters. I didn't even think of the electronical side of it...i'll check all that out.
thanks. again.