unusual symptoms! Haunted 97 Regal LS

[caddiali]

hey

well i parked my car for 5 days this week as i used a work vehicle. The weather got cold during the week and today is 15C.. So today i returned got in and drove it and noticed:
-SES light has been on after the new oil change last week
-speedometer needle doesn't move!--I had the VSS (vehicle speed sensor) replaced 1 year to the day last halloween. so i dont know how fast i am going but the car still goes...
-mileage is frozen at 173048 kms while the car is in motion
-car revs unusually high to 5000rpm until it gets to about 45km
-hard to accelerate from a red light-make loud rev sounds and is hard to drive...sounds like the tranny is trying to change into the next gear
-took it on the highway for a run for 10 minutes...condition slowly improved for the acceleration from 0 when i got off and back to regular city driving...

what could this be?

-transmission fluid level checked and is ok

any comments and suggestions are appreciated!

[Scrapper]

smell your tranny fluid and see if it smells burnt. you can tell it don't smell good.

[caddiali]

nah the tranny fluid is clear red and at the right mark on the stick.. i dont get any unusual odours like it being burnt or anything..

[caddiali]

just a follow up:

got the car scanned this morning, and the readout came back as the VSS had a low voltage

also the evoporator control system was off...mechanic said that pumping fuel in the car with it running will trigger the SES light, ....(it was a cold day)

so the SES light was cleared, and of course came back on during the drive away, lol....just staying positive throughout this....cause I love this car!

my question is would an oil leak be interfering with my Vehicle speed sensor module, mounted on the tranny case? The oil is leaking from the top engine gasket area. This vss sensor was replaced last year. Now its acting up causing the speedometer needle to not work while driving...also the mileage isn't moving.....and reving very high up to 5000 rpm until it finally jerks into first gear...

any ideas/suggestions appreciated

[BNaylor]

I seriously doubt any oil caused by a leak is getting into the VSS electrical connector. There is a seal that protects the contacts. From your symptoms it sounds like the VSS went South again or there is an abnormal reference input from the PCM module or output back.

[caddiali]

Thanks Bob always for your appreciated input....I'll drop the car at the shop this week.. I'll also mention the scanner readout about the "VSS low voltage"...Maybe the 1yr old speed sensor I replaced was of low quality!

[caddiali]

just a follow up:

The wire harness for the vehicle speed sensor, as well as the speed sensor itself was replaced...the wires were shorting out causing the vss to malfunction, thus the eractic tranny shifting, and no speedometer reading+mileage reading with it. Total was $470 about 3hrs labour....thankfully now the Regal works fine with no more SES light!!

thanks to all the suggestions from people and to the great articles in this forum!