fromthebeginnin

Anyone know how to get all the plastic shrouds off to change the air filters? I seen some do it once and it looked pretty simple, any help appreciated.

BPhillyBenz

I have the same issue. I know there is a silver hook behind the back cover that needs to come off (thats the easy part) the next steps are a little confusing to me...

Pntblnk

Curious, are your plans to clean or use something like the K&N filter?

I read somewhere earlier that the high flow filters actually detract from performance and mentally took that option off of my list. I have used K&N filters on all of my previous US made cars and have been pleased with both performance and MPG.

lyjw88

+1

fromthebeginnin

Going with K&N's, would rather do it myself if I get a DIY, Vlad at ASP offered to do it and let me take Photo's to pass on to the forum (I think it very basic but?). Except I'm not sure when I can get up to his shop.

Pntblnk

FTB - very cool to make the DIY pics. Keep us posted on performance and MPG effects. I have used K&N on every V8 I've owned for the past 12+ years and had positive results in both performance and MPG. I picked up ~3 MPG highway in both of my Yukons after the switch and my "seat-o-pants dyno" said it had more HP.

RNBRAD

I've never heard of a high flow air intake system, filter, exhaust system decreasing performance, unless it is actually more restrictive than the factory offerings. I do know that restrictors placed into an intake and exhaust systems do have benefits with some motors but only at low rpm's.
A motor is essentially like an air pump. If the intake or filter has resistance, the motors efficiency is compromised in some shape form or fashion, though it may be very subtle.

fromthebeginnin

Couldn't get over to the shop (they are on the other side of the Bay), anyone else know how to do this?

K-A

FTB, it's odd to me, but through my research, I've always found that K&N's and the like have actually hurt, rather than helped performance on M-B's. Like the engineers designed the filters and motors to compliment each other perfectly. Not to mention, the added worries about the oil, etc.

I would have gotten a K&N myself if it weren't for this (why not, right), but it kind of scared me away. Not sure what is really what here, but I'd recommend a little research on it here anyway!

fromthebeginnin

KA I did a lot of investigation, from what I have learned as long as you don't try to re-oil them you're ok (although some people say their manufacturing process leaves a lot of oil onthem), plus they are in a **** load of cars. I actually have the green filters in now but I am going to take them out. I am still evaluating BMC they have a great rep, waiting to get the correct part numbers from Connoisseur Group in SD who gives discounts to mbworld members for BMC.

PS I just ordered the BMC from Connoisseur Group, twice the price of KandN but they are supposedly the best, they actually mentioned they breath so well on a lot of turbo's they work on there is need to modify the air box.

RNBRAD

I haven't got the K&N's for the 212 yet but will have soon. I've used them since day one in my 211 as well as every car, motorcycle, ATV I've ever owned. I swear by them!!

BPhillyBenz

I am attaching 2 sets of directions I have dug up. Note: I have yet to do this, so I cant confirm if they are correct. Good luck... and if anybody does it, please post back results and any recommendations. Thanks.

Mercedes Air Filter Directions from source #1
Raise the hood of your E350 and rest it on the support rod.
Grasp the front section of the engine cover and lift it straight up. Pry up on each of the sides of the engine cover at the point where the front and rear sections meet.
Push back on the metal clip at the center of the rear of the engine cover. Pull the cover off and set it aside.
Pull the air hose straight out of the air cleaner housing. The hose pushes into place so you can pull it off easily. Lift the air cleaner assembly off the top of the engine.
Flip the air cleaner assembly upside down. Loosen the two T20 Torx screws with a Torx bit and ratchet. The screws will remain in the bottom portion of the assembly. Separate the two sides of the air cleaner assembly. Lift the air filter out of the assembly.
Insert the new air filter into the air cleaner assembly. Replace the lower portion of the assembly and tighten the Torx screws with the Torx bit and ratchet. Install the air cleaner assembly onto the mounting area in the engine compartment.
Connect the air hose to the air cleaner assembly. Push it into place until it is secure. Push the engine cover back into place until it clicks, locking into position. Close the hood of the car.

Mercedes Air Filter Directions from source #2
From trial and error I learned by pulling from the very front of the engine cover there are two prongs that fit into rubber suction cup items. This piece is hinged and as you lift up it exposes the rear attachments which consist of a center plug and two metal clip types that pull off.

Once this is removed I put it aside and then pulled of the left and right hoses that go to the air system which is the main unit you see on top of the engine, I then used a plastic spatula to pull off the flat end by the rad and put these two hoses aside.

Now comes the main unit which sits on 4 rubber bushings on the side and then fits over the air intake at the rear and has a spring clamp holding it down. Before you do anything there is a 1" rubber hose at the front you must pull back then unclamp the rear hold down by pushing it towards the firewall. Now lifting from the front of the unit pull up and back and off the air intake.

You are now in possession of one of the largest air intakes I have seen. Carefully turn it over on a large blanket and you will see there is a left and right air intake. Using a torx screwdriver evenly un-do all 4 screws so that you do not bend the plastic lid.

Remove the old air cleaner and push in the new air cleaner carefully seating it completely around the housing. Replace the housing and carefully screw down all 4 corners equally so as to close the gap evenly otherwise one of the corners will not fit correctly.

Once this is done on all 4 corners there should be no gap between the 2 plastic pieces where you tighten the torx screws down.

Now with approved Mercedes rubber lubricant, you have to lubricate the large 4" seal that goes over the intake and the 4 rubber stand offs which support the housing.

Tilting the housing down place the air cleaner over the intake so that it slides over the neck then seat the remainder of clamps over the rubber standoffs. If you lubricated everything correctly this will slip and click in place. Now re-attach the rear spring clamp and the 1" hose on the front of the air cleaner.

You can now re-attach the front cover by clipping the rear in place first then snapping the front down, make sure that you also snap the hinge portion correct into place and everything should look perfect flat.

To re-attach the air intake hoses place the flat rad side in first then the round side to the air intake unit pushing it firmly until it properly snaps into place. This piece has a tendency to appear to be in place but is not.

fromthebeginnin

Thanks Philly, your Source 1 was spot on, 5 minutes!

PS I put in BMC filters and took out Green Filters, btw do not use the Greens!

BPhillyBenz

Great news FTB. Let us know how your BMC's work out. Have a good weekend.

44kevin

Excellent write ups. I like to clarify that when removing the 2nd portion of the engine cover, the air intake pipes need to be detached at the very beginning of the air intake. To detach, about one inch away from the air intake there is plastic clip that's holding the pipes to the car. One needs to squeeze that clip to detach. Once the pipes are detach, then the back engine cover can come off all together. At lease that's how I remove the engine cover for the 2010 w212.

Also, I replaced with the
K&N 33-2181 High Performance Replacement Air Filter.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i00_details

stemags

Ive been using K&N's for 10 yrs running,,never an issue with regular(5-8K miles) cleaning,which is very easy to do. This chassis is just a bit more involved to change them out as opposed to previous cars,but as Bphil aptly and completely described,its a snap.

PHML

This is not exactly the same, but very similar...hope this helps a bit...

Pete

ImInPA

I have used K&N filters and have nothing but praise for the product. I have never had to clean or re-oil a K&N filter prior to about 40K miles. They flow that well. Also, contrary to all of the "scare" hype out there, I have seen demonstrations that prove that K&N filters filter out even more than OEM filters. In any event, they are a fine product and and a safe product. I use them on my bikes as well.

bigigg

40,000 miles before cleaning an air filter? WOW! My k&n's in my c class i did every 8k

EmE247

I must be retarded or at least car-tarded.

When it comes to fixing parts of it, I leave it to my shop.

So I'm trying to go through the instructions so I can clean out my K&Ns, but can not for the life of me figure out the steps to take off the top cover.

I can take off the front portion of it, but can not figure out how to take off the back portion of it...

Here's the excerpt of what I'm talking about from BPhils post source #1...
"Grasp the front section of the engine cover and lift it straight up. Pry up on each of the sides of the engine cover at the point where the front and rear sections meet.
Push back on the metal clip at the center of the rear of the engine cover. Pull the cover off and set it aside."

Anyone have a step by step, picture by picture, instructions for dummies/car-tards DIY on changing/cleaning the air filter?

EmE247

Well i just figured it out myself if anyone cares...

Take off the front part of the engine cover... Basically just lift the front facing edge and it should pop up. Then detatch the front piece from the back piece which is hinged in on two latches in the back. Should just pull off easy when the front is tilted up far enuff.

Now the part i was stuck on was taking off the back half piece... And the part that was missing from the instructions were...

Before pulling off the back piece of the engine cover... First detatch all of the hoses that are attached to the front of that back piece. There are two large tube pieces that are attached to the front corners of the back engine cover. Gently pull on each hose and they will pull off easy. There is also a smaller hose located towards the middle front that will also come off when gently pulled. After all three of those hoses are removed, brace each hand on each of the two holes where u pulled off the corner tubes and push up. You will have to detatch the metal latch in the back before u do this... The rear piece will detatch pretty easy when all of these instructions are completed.

You will need some special tool after that ... Think torx something to continue as i got stuck there without that tool.

More to follow if i run ino any other problems with the previous instructions...

SethP

I did this today on my E550.

You will need the torx bit mentioned previously, fortunately, I had one of these in a bit kit I had.

Taking the hoses off is a piece of cake, and I was able to pop the back clip off with a flat head with almost zero effort.

Once I removed the filters, I took the time to thoroughly clean everything out, as there was a lot of grit hanging out in there.

Putting things back together took a bit longer because I was having a really hard time getting the back put back on. I had a bit of trouble getting the center piece put back into place, it wanted to sit too high. Eventually after moving it around for 10+ minutes it finally sat right and slid right down.

After that, the only thing that gave me a fuss was the front two fabric hoses.

Took it for a test drive, no warning signals flew, so I think I'm GTG!

OceanView

I installed K&N Filters today (2 needed) and wanted to add to this DIY.

Regarding reinstalling the rear cover back on,
There are 4 rubber knobs on the engine block that the cover needs to sit onto.
I found that it was easy if you rest the cover on top of these 4 knobs then going over to the driver side of the engine and pressing on this side first, then the right side. This will make the cover sit in completely and then the rear metal clip becomes easy to clip on.

With the engine cover off, I noticed that the sparks plugs are easy to get to so whenever they need to be replaced, it should be a fairly easy DIY.

Nuru

We need someone to post a step by step with pics.

shynez2008

Hi, few basics pictures, really easy to do, good luck

Air filter: Mann

PLEASE SEE ATTACHED PICTURES

hope will help