1998 Contour Transmission slipping into Neutral: I got this car maybe three weeks ago after it had been sitting for 5 years, runs pretty good considering there is still 5 or so year old gas in there. It is a GL 2.0L 4 cylinder auto, (the car was free). Anyway, my problem is when I put the car in drive and begin to accelerate at varying speeds the car with seemingly slip into neutral, sometimes it it just for a second sometimes its longer. I did some surfing through online forums and a OBD-2 check that lead me to believe the problem was the Vehicle Speed Sensor, and/or the Neutral safety switch, I have replace both and it still slips into to neutral, and I'm all out of ideas. The speedometer also doesn't work, I don't know if that's connected or not, but when the car does go into neutral, the speedo needle starts moving around almost like it functioning as a tachometer.

Thanks, any help is much appreciated.

 

You said the car hasn't been driven for 5 years and everything including the battery is still good? Tire pressure still good? Just the fuel alone should not be used if it's 1-year or older.
A couple of test & procedure to get you started.

 

I guess I should mention, the car does drive, that's not the problem, It has 1st and 2nd as low gears i guess you could call them, and then drive. I've driven it about 30-40 minutes from Mississippi to my house in Tennessee, in 2nd the whole way. So battery, tires, all good, the only thing that was needed to get the car to run was a fuel pump. I've mixed some good gas in with the bad, and put some gas treatment in there, i just don't have a way to get it out and if i did, I don't have a place to put it because the 15 gallon tank is almost full.

 

Your car is probably having multiple issues and you said you already replaced the VSS and your speedometer still doesn't work, you might need to clean the connector and its terminals. So I suggest you to diagnose that first, check Speedometer_Inoperative.pdf
When yours is with auto tranny, it relies on VSS signals as well.