LIONHEAD

If you're going aftermarket becareful of K&N for the W211. I bought a pair of new K&N for my previous '04 E500 and afterwards the MAF went bad. The oil they put on the filters sucked into the MAF causing it to malfunction. I've never had a problem with K&Ns with my Corvette though. Luckily the dealer replaced the MAF under warranty. I switched to Green Filter on the E500 with no problems.

jimmydagreek

So Green filters are not oiled like K&N??? Do you just replace them once they're dirty because they're not cheap???

LIONHEAD

Green Filters were less oily than the K&N. I think there is a cleaner kit out there for the Green Filters. Someone might be able to chime in on how the cleaner kit worked out but for me I just bought new Green Filters whenever I felt the previous ones were dirty.

vettdvr

I've had no issues with KN on my corvette. Perhaps your maf was failing independant of the filters. On the K&N when cleaning I allow time for the water to fully air dry then oil and wait overnight for the oil to stabalize in the filter. Then drive on,, never an issue.

For the E500 K&N direct from their website:

Part #33-2181

Product Specifications :

Product Style: Panel Air Filter
Height: 1.25 in (32 mm)
Outside Length: 13.688 in (348 mm)
Outside Width: 5.188 in (132 mm)
Filter Re-Oiling Amount: 1.01 oz (30 ml)
Weight: 0.9 lb (0.4 kg)
Product Box Length: 17.25 in (438 mm)
Product Box Width: 8.25 in (210 mm)
Product Box Height: 1.88 in (48 mm)

LIONHEAD

Perhaps.....but I'm thinking it's the oil in the K&N: https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...&highlight=maf

I remember with my C5 I had K&N with stock airbox cutouts with no problems before I installed the Vortex Ram Air.

JRAMGV8

Its been awhile since my last post here I need to check the airfilters...

1999TL

Thanks for bumping the thread. I'll have to check on my car tomorrow.

SAguirre

I check my filters once a year. My K & N filters always look pretty dirty on my Mercedes (like the pictures above). For some reason, my Audi does not get as much dirt in its K & N.

It is a well-known fact that if you over oil the K&Ns and or you still have too much moisture after washing them you can damage the Air Mass Meter/Sensor. I always let the filters dry completely in the sun before I oil them, then I don't overdo it with the oil. After more than 10 years of using K&Ns, I have never had a problem.

I think that this amount of dirt in the filter box is a sign that the air intake is relatively direct in these cars. This lets the engine breath well, but it also makes it inhale a lot of dirt.

Steve

JRAMGV8

No prob,

I just checked them this morning and its all good

Clinton Horn

I think you are overreacting. The motor is pulling in 100-200 CFM. That is a lot of air passing thru the filters. Most of the stuff you are complaining about is harmless on the correct side of the filter. Knock it off and put it back in place. The grit and fines that are wedged in the pleats are more serious. As with most intakes, the air appears to be concentrated on a very small area of the filter. As the filter media becomes fouled (more restrictive), the airflow moves to a cleaner spot. I would rather use a new filter, regardless of the cost, than a cleaned one. Once the fines get into the media, it is very tough to get them out. If you have ever owned a dirt bike or a piece of eathmoving equipment, you know what a dirty filter looks like. We have pine pollen here in the south. If you cared to you, could find billions of spores lodged in filters every spring.

jgdynamics

just checked my filters on my e500, and wowsers... to my discovery



since i had brand new k&n's i replaced them out, even though these filters were cleanable... i would rather start new.

TheRealG

I know these are high-performance machines, but that is NOT a really dirty air filter. Also, it's white on the other side because it's working!!!

After putting in a new filter, is it possible for the engine to rev higher than normal as the car adjusts to the freer flowing air?

G.

MB Fanatic

It won't rev higher but it will rev more freely and smoothly.

TheRealG

do you also throw out your clothes after wearing them? lol.

G.

Eich

$175 for an air filter change should be an arrestable offense. That's just insane. I know these are luxury cars but that filter can't cost that much more than the $8 filter I just put in our Ford Edge.

jgdynamics

i got a new white Tee everyday of the week.. but yea, i didnt know that there were reusable filters in there so i bought k&ns before opening up.
i cleaned the filters and passed them onto my cousins clk500k

starcarnut

I used to be a big K&N fan, put them in everything I bought. Then I started reading problems with MAF failures in Porsches due to oiling and then came across a thread on a motorcycle forum that finally convinced me to avoid them.

One of the guys in the thread was a motorcycle enthusiast but was also responsible for maintaining a fleet of diesel engines on earth-moving equipment with a very strict maintenance schedule. They went through a lot of expensive filters on a regular basis and did oil analysis with each service, so there was a very consistent foundation of empirical data. They looked into K&N as a cost saving measure. However, they found that they consistently had more dirt contamination when they used the K&N vs. the factory paper element and in the end went back to using a paper-fiber type filter. The cheesecloth filters make claims of filtering down to 5 microns but after reading this guys non-biased experience, it convinced me to stay with factory.

Since reading this guys experience about 10 years ago, I've come across similar stories on dirt and street bike forums. So no more K&N/cheesecloth type filters for me.

SAguirre

It is a well known issue with K & N air filters that they are NOT optimal for use where there is a lot of sand and dirt. If your car is going of the pavement and/or is driven where there are dust storms I would NOT use K&Ns. However, I have used them successfully for a very long time. I also send oil samples to Blackstone laboratories for oil analysis and I have not had any issue with excessive dirt in my oil (that would have come from the air intake). I think that K&N filters are actually good for about 90% of our Mercedes drivers, if not even more. The only thing you have to be careful of is not to over oil them when you clean them! I still have the OEM filters that I put in the car while the K&Ns dry completely after I clean and oil them. In case I do drive into the occasional dust cloud stirred up by winds, I usually let off the throttle as much as I can (not that it would make much of a difference . . ).


Steve

BLKCLK550

I am a clean freak i clean my Filters from dirt every 2500 miles.

mcleantmw

Extreme operating environments like dirt bikes and earth moving equipment is not a good comparison for decision making regarding the K&N filters, or any filter for that matter. For the normal driving conditions for motor vehicles on paved streets, the K&N filters work fine. If you operate your Benz under inordinate conditions a lot such as gravel or dirt roads, which would be unusal for a Benz owner, I don't think I'd use K&N filters either. But as indicated, most problems from K&N filters happen from folks trying to clean and over oiling them. I installed K&N filters in my Benz a few months ago at the 60,000 mileage point and they're working fine.......I'm now at 68,000 miles.

starcarnut

I'll have to respectfully disagree on that one. I'm less concerned about the amount of dirt than I am about the ability to keep it out. Certainly a dirt bike or earth mover will see in one afternoon probably as much dirt as our cars may see in 20k mile but the point is the K&N fabric will not filter out what a good paper element will, period. I've read the reviews, data and analysis' and concluded the factory has the best idea about keeping the engine healthy over the long haul. And that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

BLKCLK550

I had K&N on my previous car for 60k miles and had no issues with the car what so ever ran like a dream.

155

Thanks for bumping this up! I'm checking my filters tonight.

fortlaudsummer

I just had my filters replaced at the dealership only a couple of thousand miles ago...I may check them anyway

007_e350

I read this on benzworld & I agree with the author, becareful guys!!!

From Drivbiwire:
-----------------------------------------------------
Mercedes already designs a "Cold Air Intake" into the OEM design...

air intakes due to emissions have to be designed to afford little to no restriction in order to comply with US emissions...especially California and the CAFE states. I have done more testing on air intake systems than I care to admit and the bottom line is that there is NO restriction in these cars airboxes. Typical restriction in the OEM air filter is in the order of 1-3" water column... If you understand how little this is you would look to other ways to improve power.

After market filters namely K&N sacrifice filtration, eliminate badly needed filter surface area in favor of larger holes...YES HOLES in the filter to allow more flow with a smaller filter. K&N typically offers a total surface area of 1 foot squared where the OEM air filters have more than 9-10 feet squared! The more area the less the restriction and the greater the or rather the smaller the particles the filters can capture WITHOUT restriction! Greater surface area also offers the ability to go longer between changes without harming the flow characteristics.

OEM air filters on the MB are rated at 5-10 microns, K&N is rated at 90 microns. Particles as large as 15-20 microns WILL damage your motor!

Other issues with the aftermarket filters is the MAF flow sensor. These sensors rely on fine filtering capability and when an oiled air filter is placed in front of them the oil migrates, insulates the microscopic heating element and causes a melt down. MAF sensor failures are so common that engineering study's have been done just to show how quickly they cause the MAF sensors to fail often in less than 100 miles! The ones that don't fail right away suffer reduced performance and lower engine output as a result of incorrect air fuel ratios as well as incorrect fueling limits in the case of diesel engines.

Bottom line, aftermarket air filter systems are a joke and risk very expensive damage to your car not to mention increased repair costs as a result of damage to emissions sensing components in the induction system.