I've been reading every hot shakes thread in here -- and there are a LOT! -- trying to make sense of my hot shakes issue. Only at idle, only after running around for a while, bad, bad shaking. I first noticed it the day after my air cleaner bracket replacement nightmare, which was frustrating but not at all catastrophic. Nonetheless, the fact that it appeared right after I got the air cleaner situated had me thinking it was a valve issue and related to the banging the assembly had been doing with the cleaner mounted wrong.

Took the car in today to replace the oil cooler lines. They were weeping and bothering me. I really didn't want them to fail, so took 'em in. I'd planned to have the engine mounts (my first shot at eliminating the shakes) done at the same time, and would have, but the owner of the shop was kind of a jerk and I found myself hesitant to commit to doing that business with him. I'd also priced out the rack damper screw and had alook at that process... so was ready to do all the investigating everyone's been documenting so well here and start those jobs soon. BUT!

As they worked on the cooler lines, I said, weirdly, "can you also replace the fuel filters?" I had no real reason to do so. They're not all that old. I don't know why I said it.

Problem solved! No more hot shakes! Vastly improved power, engine purring like a kitty cat. Not even considering monkeying with the engine mounts now. I will someday, but all seems great, and once again, I am reminded why I adore this car beyond reason. I'm going to do some Italian tune-ups and change the filters again in a month or so, but I'm feeling soooOOOoo lucky I didn't have to get too far down the checklist...

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1980 300SD 220,xxx
somewhere, nc