ugh.....element is being a pain in my *** the last week.....

I have a weird clunking sound/feeling when starting off....only seems to do it under hard acceleration. After 156k miles, I've replaced 2 broken motor mounts, and last night I replaced the trans fluid & filter. Problem persists.

I checked ball joints, tie rods, control arm bushings, axles, everything looks great & has zero play. I've done extensive searching on the EOC, and as usual most of the replies are keyboard mechanics, no one who actually ever crawled under or fixed anything. Many replaced axles, but that didn't always seem to fix it. I'd rather try to figure it out, before throwing lots of money at it.....

Double checked all bushings & mounts, everything is good.

No metal shavings on the trans plug magnet.

It's a 2wd, so no rear diff issues.

Clunking does not happen in reverse at all......

This is the first issue the E has ever given me & I'm honestly stumped.