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On my 96 Taurus LX 24V, I noticed two issues occurring lately.  When I am stopped at a light, the idling will jump quickly from 600-700 RPMs to 1K, back down to 400 RPMs and then go back to the 600-700 RPMs.  This happens once, on occasion twice at a light.  When I put it in Park, it doesn't do that.  It seems to happen only after 10 min of driving and not right after having started the car.
The second issue is that when I'm in first gear, when I accelerate, the engine will rev for a second (the car will have no power) and then drive fine.  It only happens, when I'm in first gear, or if I slow down around a curve.  Otherwise, the transmission shifts beautifully in all gears, acceleration and deceleration.

My car has been leaking engine oil significantly for the last two months from the upper part of the engine and the mechanic said that it would not be cheap to replace the seals leaking around the chain area.  But, would the two things be related?  Does it seem like a transmission issue?  Any help would be appreciated.
Michel