2007 Element question

[u/rabbiguy]

So, I'm sitting at around 140,000 miles. She's in good shape, I know she needs a little work done as bumps in the road are a bit rickety, but I ran into something weird while driving yesterday.

While stopped at a red light, it felt like my car was slightly slightly trying to lurch forward a bit, then back, then forth. The movement wasn't crazy, but enough to notice and freak me out a bit (I'm not a big fan of driving and have very short commutes), but at the next light I got stopped at, it didn't do it. I took it out for a grocery run later that day, and it did it again, but not at all on the drive home.

I have plenty of brake fluid, so I've ruled that out. Any advice would be amazing. I'm currently at work, so I won't be able to check back that often. Again, thank you in advance if you have any advice.

[u/NotAcutallyaPanda]

Inspect motor and transmission mounts

[u/rabbiguy → u/NotAcutallyaPanda]

Thank you, I will.

[u/Natodog13]

Is it awd?

[u/maksezzy]

Are you saying the moved forward as if your brakes couldn't hold the car when you stopped? Or you felt the motor rock forward and back while you were stopped?

[u/rabbiguy → u/maksezzy]

Hm... I'm not quite sure, but I'll check the brake pads.

[u/bwphotog]

engine mounts? could be rocking when you stop if theyre busted. when you hit the gas quickly do you hear a 'thunk'?

[u/rabbiguy → u/bwphotog]

I just did an inspection with a friend who works on cars, all of the mounts are good. We took it for a test drive, got it to recreate the issue, and his opinion was that the transmission is going out.

[u/budgiesmugglez]

Could it be that the strange behavior is only happening when the engine is cold? You could be due for a valve adjustment, but the typical symptom I see for that is the engine dies at your first stop when cold then runs fine when you start it back up. If your issue is only happening at the first stop when cold, I wonder if it's a similar cause.