Ford Repair: 1997 Ford Taurus Speedometer Problems, vehicle speed sensor, 1997 ford taurus

Question
I have a 1997 Ford Taurus. When I shift it to drive and press on the gas, the speedometer stays at 0 (or below 10 mph). The RPMs are going, but the speedometer isn't doing anything. Sometimes it will kick in and the needle will go to mph I'm at and sometimes it won't. Also sometimes I'm driving down the highway (going about 65) and the needle on the speedometer will just drop down to 0. Eventually it kicks itself back up. I've done some research about this problem and the answers for cars in general is the VSS (vehicle speed sensor) being faulty. If this is in fact the problem, where is the VSS located for repair?? And how dificult is it to repair??? Thank you for any advice/info you give!

Answer
Hello and thanks for the question...I'll try to help.
I would say that the VSS is the cause of your problem......or at least part of it. There are other things to consider before just replacing that part. There is a drive and driven side to the VSS. The Drive side, is internal in the transmission and can only be fixed by tearing the transmission apart. The driven side is the VSS, it has a removable gear drive on the end of it, as well as an electrical connector plug. If you use this link:

http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/1...

Look at the number 6, at the end of the transmission is the location of the VSS.
Hope this helps,
Erik