star69me

I was at a bmw indy shop in Jacksonville fl and I asked about the after market air filters and they told me not to use them because the oil on the filter gets sucked in engine and messes up the MTF sensor and engine. Any comments on this????

Boland01

I actually ditched the stock air cleaner and box and put in a BMS dual cone intake. That was almost a year ago. To date no issues. I do have a K&N air filter on my son's 2009 Altima. That did in fact coat the MAF with the oil and cause issues. I just used MAF cleaner on it and it took care of the issue and it hasn't happened since. That was 80,000 miles ago.


To answer your question, yes it can. However, I think it's the exception rather than the rule.

twh

Just replaced the BMW branded air filter and cabin air filter (aka microfilter) in my wife's X5 with Mann. They are identical.

tonyb635

Mann+Hummel and Mahle are the two filter producers. However, most out of the factory have BMW label on them, but the mfg. is the two suppliers above.

I have heard that the Mann filters you can purchase as aftermarket are slightly different in regard to number of pleats etc. but still meet the requirements. I guess this allows them to produce more at a lower cost. Not sure though which one you would get at the dealership though. I purchase Mann oil filters from advance auto and they are a little cheaper than the dealer, maybe one day when I am bored i'll purchase both and compare.

rice_rocket88

K&N had a period of time where they were all over oiled. Yes it caused problems. What you just needed to do is wash it and re-oil it with the proper amount of oil.

Jim165

Someone posted a comparison of the filters including WIX, K&N and AC Delco and the AC Delco dry filter killed the others by a long shot in regards to filtering, longevity, and general performance. K&N looks to have allowed a large amount of dirt into the engine...
K&N Air Filter Review - Debunking the Myths (and why OEM is better)

I've used Mann since i got the car and my oil analysis showed very low levels of silica resulting in excellent filtration. Just go dry filter..you won't notice much of a difference anyway...

star69me

Well maybe I said it wrong. I meant after market as in those cone looking performance ones that you hear sucking air and adds more HP that replaces the entire oem air filter box

tonyb635

Ah ok, you mean cold air intake, or more like a hot air intake. For the 5 it's BS and there are plenty of studies out there that show a reduction in power. I have a 535 and place a nice injen on it a few years back. All it did was hisssss like a snake and eventually started throwing reduced engine power codes. Got rid of it and have had no problems since.

Booyaazaa

Unless you have a N54 engine stick with stock. You really don't get any performance gains from simply changing a filter and if you do it'll be only a few hp's. I do run aftermarket dci's but that's because I'm running high levels of boost so the engine needs to ingest large volumes of air quickly.

bmwmonkey

Back to back dyno results to not show any performance increase with Dual cone intake filters (N54 cars). Stick with stock.