Air filter in W114 280CE

[01alam]

Happy New Year Everybody.

I have always been wanting to service my car and now I am determine, and weather seems to be more predictable I can drive the W114 to a garage to have them service as well as fix the wiper motor.

I was checking on parts such as wiper motors, most websites don't have them, so hopefully the garage would, on a different matter, air filter. The OEM ones, which I presume to be paper costs 20 quid!!! I am thinking about upgrading to K&N, which cost double but is reuseable. Just wondering whether 20 quid is correct because all the websites I visit seem to charge the same!

Other than replacement K&N, I am also thinking about cold air feed, but I am not sure whether the Merc's MAF likes it, and I am wondering if anyone has any experience on that issue.

I would really appreciate your help.

Many Thanks,
A

PS Also bought a older style steering wheel (one with chrome) from Germany Ebay for 36 quid, inc delivery!

 

[popuptoaster]

Cold air feed is only any good for top end power, for good midrange (ie, normal driving) you want warm air anyway, i'd stick with stock mercedes parts and inlet design unless your gonna do a proper tuning job.

 

[01alam]

Cold air feed is only any good for top end power, for good midrange (ie, normal driving) you want warm air anyway, i'd stick with stock mercedes parts and inlet design unless your gonna do a proper tuning job.

Thanks, am I right in saying that the air filters provided by Merc cost 20 quid and made out of paper? The reason I am asking is because a K&N drop on / replacement filter cost about 40 quid and can be used again and again, are they as re-useable as they say they are?

Thanks

 

[GuyFawkes]

Coming from the motorcycling world I can tell you two things.

1/ Once fitted, K&N filters are nice to look at.

2/ In terms of pure actual filtering performance and efficiency, K&N are some of the absolute worst filters you can buy.

 

[popuptoaster]

Also they need to be oiled on a regular basis which you have to buy seperately, sometimes works out more expensive than using a normal filter, i got nothing against cone filters as such, i had one on my last project car, but only because there wasnt room for anything else and as it was a bit of a hot rod i was prepared to scraifice a bit of engine wear for extra performance at full throttle and the nice induction noise.

I review hundreds of oil analysis results each week and I can generally spot a K&N (or other aftermarket non paper air filter element) equipped vehicle a mile away due to very high dirt and associated high wear metals. However, there are cases where the K&N works well. The filtering performance seems to be tied to dirt conditions, environment, driving style and vehicle. i.e. I had a vehicle from North Carolina reporting a 60 ppm dirt level and wear metals extremely high while exactly the same K&N equipped vehicle from Illinois that lived in dirt showed relatively low dirt and wear metals. However, the majority of K&N vehicles do exhibit elevated dirt levels thus my recommendation to run a before and after oil analysis to ascertain that the K&N is ineed okay for your vehicle, your environment.

 

[vijilants]

Happy New Year Everybody.

I have always been wanting to service my car and now I am determine, and weather seems to be more predictable I can drive the W114 to a garage to have them service as well as fix the wiper motor.

I was checking on parts such as wiper motors, most websites don't have them, so hopefully the garage would, on a different matter, air filter. The OEM ones, which I presume to be paper costs 20 quid!!! I am thinking about upgrading to K&N, which cost double but is reuseable. Just wondering whether 20 quid is correct because all the websites I visit seem to charge the same!

Other than replacement K&N, I am also thinking about cold air feed, but I am not sure whether the Merc's MAF likes it, and I am wondering if anyone has any experience on that issue.

I would really appreciate your help.

Many Thanks,
A

PS Also bought a older style steering wheel (one with chrome) from Germany Ebay for 36 quid, inc delivery!

You car doesn't have a MAF. If I were you I'd stick with the original OEM filter. Spending £20 isn't too bad if you are going to replace it every 12 - 18 months or so depending on mileage.

 

[nick mercedes]

Happy New Year Everybody.

I have always been wanting to service my car and now I am determine, and weather seems to be more predictable I can drive the W114 to a garage to have them service as well as fix the wiper motor.

I was checking on parts such as wiper motors, most websites don't have them, so hopefully the garage would, on a different matter, air filter. The OEM ones, which I presume to be paper costs 20 quid!!!

A used wiper motor would be easier to find and much cheaper.

 

[01alam]

Thanks all for the advice, I actually also forgotten to mention the problem of heatsoak if its an open filter, it does sound good on a manual, but mine is an automatic so may stick with the OEM parts.