lee16

Here are directions on how to change your air filters on a Mercedes e550 ( e550 V8 5.5) . I replaced mine with K&N filters.

Materials:
1. (2) K&N filters 33-2181 ( e550 V8 5.5)
2. Torx set



Open your hood



On the lower engine cover pull up on the left and right sides. The piece will pop off.



Take the lower engine cover and put it aside.



Pull the air intake hoses towards the front of the car.



Now to remove the top engine cover go to the top and push off the metal clip.



Now just like the lower engine cover pull upwards and the piece will come off.



Take the engine cover and turn it upside down. You will see the screws you need to loosen.



Remove the air intake covers and you will see the stock filter.



Remove the filter and clean the housing. Mine had lots of dust and dirt.




Look at all the dirt that came out of my filters. Wow!


Insert the new K&N filters.



Reinstall everything in the reverse order.

BM2BZ

great write up and thank you very much for your efforts !

BenzV12

Good job , thanks for this write up
This forum needs a sticky for such useful topic like this

Yosheego

What are your thoughts on it so far?

Arrie

On top of the 10th picture You mention to clean the housing and that you had lots of dust and dirt there. Are you talking about the "housing" in the 10th picture under the comment?

If I understand this correctly the 10th picrure shows the intake manifold on the engine side of the filter. Dust and dirt existing here would mean that your filter has not worked very well. I hope this is not the case.

lee16

The inside of the air box was really dirty. My picture showed the air box after I cleaned it with a rag.

lee16

Car feels faster and a little louder.

HOE550

Nice write up Lee16, it couldn't be any better with the pictures. I also notice improve throttle response and exhaust note when I installed the K&N filter.

PHML

It does help at higher speeds, but not at lower speeds.

Ive used K&N on my previous cars, but no more. It feels lethargic at from a stop or red light....and I like to gun it when I need to. LOL!!!

Also, whoever uses K&N filters, just be careful not to overspray too much oil. I've had the experience of the MAF sensor and the throttle body all gunked up with oil....which will throw a CEL on your dash. Cleaning it up is a.... b i a t c h.

Oh yah...nice writeup and pics bro.

lee16

The filter comes preoiled so you dont need additional oil. My last car had 170,000 miles and I had a K&N filter since day one. I never had issues with MAP sensors.

Arrie

I must ask again. Is the air box you talk about the open intake manifold in the tenth picture? If this is the "air box" you cleaned after finding it very dirty it means that there is something very wrong with the filter arrangement.

The tenth picture shows the intake manifold after the filter, i.e. everything from this "box" can freely goe in the engine. There is no filter between this box and the engine intake valves.

If the intake manifold in your car really was that dirty then I will be opening mine up for inspection.

lee16

No not the one in the tenth picture.

Nuru

Good work, great pics, and instructions.

Arrie

Ok, Thanks!

Got me worried a little bit.

lee16

I noticed the car gets better mpg. I used to get 19.2 mpg and now its 22 mpg!

C230Brit

Thanks for the DIY - I used it on my E-Coupe (550) to clean out the filters and solve an issue. See link below. What might be more useful to those reading this DIY is also the sheer amount of junk I discovered in the filters. Check the posting below:

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-c...ml#post5740145

Oh and for reference (because I couldn't see it detailed anywhere else on either forum) the stock filters are MANN. UPC: 4011558016197

SoCalCLK

Nice write up and useful pics. I've had K&N's in my past Mercedes and have been itching to change the air filters myself again, especially now that I have the exhaust.

Quadcammer

wow a 10% increase in fuel economy huh? Amazing that MB would just leave that on the table given the insane fuel consumption demands they are under faster too huh

For anyone silly enough to buy a K&N, be sure to let it sit on some newspaper for a day or so before you install it to allow some oil to migrate out of it.

K&N, filters worse when new with no real performance gain and flows worse when dirty.

Terrible mod.

CEB

Nice write up but let's be realistic here - a 15% increase in gas mileage is impossible.

In addition, the only way to have any noticeable increase in power or mpg by swaping out a filter is to increase airflow. If you increase airflow by using the same airbox, that means that you are filtering less - allowing more contaminants into the engine.

If you use a different airbox, then you are constrained by the size of the fixed tubing.

What you ARE getting is a different sound, giving your "butt dyno" the feeling of more power. You may also be driving a bit more conservatively based on a new mod and the change in sound so that may contribute to increased gas mileage.

As with any mod, you need to ask yourself "if it was this easy, then why didn't the manufacturer do it?"

One huge downside is that people tend to view these K&N filters as "set it and forget it" like the fellow who got 170k miles out of a filter without cleaning. K&N filters that fit factory airboxes require a cleaning every 50k miles or so. The clean/oil kits are about $20 but should last you for the time you own your car.

Finally, while the Magnusson Moss Warranty Act allows for the use of "substantially similar" replacement parts and prohibits a manufacturer from denying warranty service unless they show that the replacement part caused the issue, this act does not apply here as an oiled filter is not "substantially similar" to the filters installed in our cars and some dealerships have denied warranty claims because of K&N filters. This is not to say that they are right but those are the facts.

K&Nclaims that they stand behind their products (and they do in most cases) but they leave themselves a loophole. If a dealer blames a failure on the K&N, then they will reimburse the cost of the claim if:

1. The work order specifically identifies the filter as the problem
2. The owner has proof of purchase of the filter
3. The parts damaged by the filter are retained and returned to K&N if requested.

However, they leave themselves an out when they say "K&N will contact the service provider and collect evidence to support their claim. In the event we are not provided with sufficient evidence, we reserve the right to reject the claim and will use our best efforts to assist in establishing your rights toward the service provider under warranty or other provisions."

In other words, if the dealer refuses to play ball then you are left holding the bill.

However, this was a very helpful writeup and a good reminder to check the condition of your filters frequently.

C230Brit

Agreed (CEB).
I've stuck with the same MANN filters (stock).
In my 2003 C230 Coupe which I had prior, I had replaced the stock filter with a K&N version and cannot say I noted any significant performance increase.

thekurgan

These filters also don't "filter" as well ... if you want more airflow, something will suffer and it's filtration. There is NO free lunch with these.

CEB

I started my post, got sidetracked, quadcammer posted and I finished mine.

I think most of us have had a K&N filter at one time or another. I used one on my 'vette in Germany because it was hard to find the OE filter. I ultimately had MAF issues that may or may not have been related to the K&N.

My post wasn't intended to bash K&N - just to point out that there is no free lunch. If there was, then you can bet your bottom dollar that the manufacturer would do it. With all of the focus on mpg, any manufacturer would be happy to spend the extra few dollars for a 15% increase in mpg.

SoCalCLK

I guess we are saying that the dry paper filters filter air better than oiled cotton gauze. That being said, these V8 engines need to breathe! The OEM paper filter is the same, whether a V6 or V8 engine.

Has anyone considered the AEM Dryflow air filters?

CEB

Not necessarily. What I am saying is that you need to understand airflow.

Airflow to an engine is restricted by the smallest conduit of air in the whole system. Adding a huge filter doesn't change anything if there a more restrictive area down the line.

Think of it this way. Try sucking a milkshake through a tiny little straw (like one of those McDonald's coffee stirrers) - not easy. Then try one one of the regular drink straws (that are pretty fat just for that reason) - pretty simple.

But - try taping that fat straw to the tiny straw and you're back at the beginning because you are restricted to the amount of milkshake (or air) that can be sucked through the little straw.

Back when air filters sat on top of carburetors the filter was often the most restrictive part of system giving rise to companies like K&N that produced less restrictive filters. Since then - and with the advent of electronic air flow meters, ECUs and emission controls, manufacturers have paid lots of attention to the entire intake system and throw billions of dollars at modern engine design and to assure that all of the systems interact properly. It is unlikely that a company like K&N, AEM or anyone else can design a filter that is more efficient than the OE filter.

The aftermarket in this case banks on internet lore, old wives' tales and a different sound to convince customers that they are getting performance gains by just swapping filters.

There are lots of filter companies out there making good quality filters but you won't see any performance differences amongst them. If you like K&N and don't mind the upkeep and very careful oiling, then use a K&N - but on't expect to see mileage gains.

blackbullit

What size Torx did you use to remove the bolts in the filter assembly?