I have a 1997 ford escort, one morning my transmission started slipping and

[suezqz]

my speedometer stopped working .? is it possible the two problems are connected ?,The car only has 30,000 miles'' ive changed the transmission oil and changed the filter still slipping. could the trans belts need tighteniing? im a woman whos been taken advantaged at the mechanics can anyone give me suggestions?
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[tim]

I had a civic with similar problem. I had a short in a wire that was ran the speed sensor in my vehicle. Check your fuses, on my civic there was one for the speed sensor. It was blown. I had to have the wire replaced but that led me to the right place. It could be simply the speed sensor itself though. For a civic it was a $100 part that I could replace myself. Maybe bring that up to the mechanic. Just bringing up the term may show the mechanic that you have some knowledge. If that is the cause and they try to charge some ridiculous amount just remember that the part for the civic was 100 so i cant imagine it being much more for your escort. Obviously there will be a labor charge, but I recommend you ask them what the labor costs are especially considering this thing took about 4 minutes to replace in my civic.