Need Help With Transmission Troubleshooting

[slyfox75]

I have an 2002, 150Kmiles, 4cy Solara with a transmission/Speed sensor issue.

The car will very smoothly jump out of gear at all speeds....and then go back into gear fairly smoothly as well after a sec or two. The check engine light comes on and gives the vehicle speed senor code.

Replaced the speed sensor.....same issue. So then shop says it's an internal tranny issue so they get a tranny out of a wrecked solara with 45K miles on it(supposedly. The new transmission is doing the EXACT same thing. Bring it into Toyota yesterday, they spend 6 hours on it and also say it is internal tranny issue(the "new" one is on it by now.....they never looked at the car with the original transmission on it).

SO......Here are my questions.
-What, if anything, else could through this code?
-If the cable from the sensor back to the ECU(assuming it goes straight back to computer) is chafed and shorting on the body would this cause same issue? I'm making a HUGE assumption that the ECU is setup in a way that if signal is lost to VSS, it tells shift solenoid to "go to neutral" to prevent transmission damage. Anyone know?
-Last Point....and this is what is leading me down the cut wire path. About 2 months before all this began, her car(fiances car) had the entire dash removed to fish out a dead creature....after everything was put back together, her "D" light on the console does not illuminate. All the other ones do. So Initially I was thinking it was not engaging fully into drive and it was going from Drive to Neutral. To disprove this though I put the car in 3rd(light on) and the transmission still "slips". I'm thinking though that something maybe cut that wire and another wire has since vibrated enough that it will randomly short to the body and cause ECU/transmission to flip out.
-Will the car drive with the VSS disconnected?
-Is this the same transmission as is in similar year model 4cy camry?

[Eye8Pussies]

1 - at this point, I'd probably swap in a new ecu to try, since it's obviously not a mechanical issue
2 - it is possible, since the ecu does have built in protection such as what you describe. not for sure, but quite likely. For your explanation with the other car's D not working though, that is usually a sign of the bulb being burnt out, not a vss problem, the vss is a different plug and wire than the (other) tranny signal plug. When the tranny signal plug is not connected, the dash lights for the P/R/N/D/2/1 does not light up altogether
3. haven't tried it, but the car should not drive without the vss connected. or, if it does, it won't drive well...at least on the automatic for sure.
4. and no, the transmission is different from teh 4cyl ones. it uses the same transmission as the camry though