Scotty,
I started watching your YouTube videos and learning more about cars in the last 6 months or so. I'm a huge fan! Please don't stop doing what you do.
I have an automatic 2008 Pontiac Vibe with 137,000 miles. It's my daily driver, mostly highway, and I drive it somewhat aggressively. I've noticed that occasionally when accelerating from a complete stop (like at a traffic light that just turned green), the tachometer will shoot up but the vehicle will barely move. If I release my foot from the gas and re-apply pressure, the car will accelerate like normal. This is more likely to occur when I accelerate quickly, especially if the car was at a complete stop on a hill and I'm trying to give it a little extra gas to get going - but this also happens if I'm trying to merge into a gap in traffic from a complete stop and I need to accelerate quickly to match the speed of the vehicles on the roadway.
I'm not the original owner but I had the transmission fluid changed at 112,000 miles at a shop and I was intending on changing it myself at around 142,000 (30,000 since last changed) by dropping the pan and cleaning out the mesh filter.
What are your thoughts on a possible cause? Anything I can do to try and help the situation?
On the face of it, it appears your transmission is wearing out. It should be scanned with a dealer-level scan tool that can read transmission codes. In the meantime even though the fluid was changed not all that long ago you should check that fluid is at the correct level and that it is not burnt and/or gritty.
Double check your fluid level if there's a dipstick. It's fossilized technology, but my 1979 Pontiac would do that sometimes and not shift, or accelerate for a couple seconds in situations like that. I checked the fluid. It was low due to a slow leak.
