Hi I have a 3.4L V6 1995 automatic model. This is my first car and it's been running pretty good since I've got it. Randomly I started it yesterday and drove, and noticed the speedometer wasnt aorking. So then I kept an eye on my odometer and that wasnt turning over either. Then I noticed the acceleration felt heavy and very sluggish... It was going up to 3 RPM when it didn't need to and with my foot on the gas it wasn't accelerating as fast as it usually does. Everything feels off and each of these problems came up at once which would make me think they are correlated. Can anyone point me to the exact issue and what it might take to fix this?

New to the forums as well happy to meet everyone

 

when did the car have plugs an tune up it could be many things with the older 3.4l

 

No I can not tell you an exact issue, No one can. Even if someone had the exact same symptoms you still could not be sure it was the exact same problem.

Here what I can tell you.
This is not a common issue. Meaning in the 8 years I have been on this site I have not seen these symptoms describe before.

First thing I would do is download the shop manual from the manual sub folder at the bottom of the main page. Track down the Grounds for the PCM and the gage cluster and make sure they are tight and not rusty, maybe clean them just to be sure. I would have guessed speed sensor but if that was out your transmission would not shift out of first gear. If your car had a Body control module I would be looking at that but I do not think it does. I believe 96 was the first year for them. I am guessing on this but PCM handle your gage function. So you could have a failing gage cluster or a failing PCM (and here is the kick in the crotch) a wire/connector going between them.

Second thing I would do is hook up a scanner and see if the PCM is showing an accurate speed. If the PCM is showing and accurate speed and the gage is not that really helps track the issue to the Gage cluster/wires and less to the PCM itself.