Dangerous problem

[Funnylady]

I am the original owner of a 95 Stratus ES. It has the 2.5L, V6 engine with appoximately 60,000 miles on it, and I have a strange, yet dangerous, problem. Driving on the highway at approx 65 mph, I engaged the cruise control and a few miles later I heard the tires chirp, the speed dropped almost instantly to 20 mph, the tach went up to 5500 rpm and stuck there, the speedometer went down to 0 even though the car was still moving, and all the transmission indicators lit up on the dash.
Once the car was pulled over to the side of the road and stopped, the tach came down to normal idle range and the transmission indicators went back to normal. It was fine for the rest of the drive (another 1-2 miles).
About 9 hours later, again at highway speeds the speedometer, tach and transmission indicators acted up intermittantly. Once off the highway and driving on the side streets, the car was acting fine.
Any suggestions as to the cause? :help:

[Humboldt]

Have a 98 Stratus with the 2.4 dohc, and cruise is now intermittent. It will work flawlessly until I have to decelerate or otherwise disengage, and then it will either turn off on its own, or when I try to resume cruise. I will actually have to turn the car off to use it again. The car has 112,000 miles on it, and thanks to advice on allpar.com it now has a wonderfully working A604 4spd auto. Otherwise, runs well, save the little things one expects to do at this mileage. Does anyone have any ideas about the cruise? Loose connection/ground, bad sensor, etc?

Thanks for any advice and directions.

[scourge]

I would check/clean and/or replace your output speed sensor. A bad speed sensor will cause the vehicle speedo to go to 0mph even if you are moving. It also forces the car into "limp-in" mode which basically forces the car to 2nd gear. Since you were driving at highway speed, your rpm went real high and your tires chirped when the car went to 2nd gear.

They don't cost much and it's an easy replacement with a socket wrench. I've attached a pic though I don't know how easy it will be for you to find.