Had the same problem had to cut off the filter and the pressure broke the airfilter housing bracket

 

I think they shrink from the heat. I bet if we applied molykote to it, that would make it easier to slide in and out. I'll have to try it. Don't bother looking it up, because you won't buy it when you see what the stuff costs. I only have it because someone else bought it. lol

 

I had the same issue last year April , with my both cars w123 and w126 , requested Pelican Parts to investigate if these filters are from a bad badge, they were really not very helpful they kept on sending me the diagrams and mutule conversations between different departments and insisting that the part No. and the part is right . After few Emails I finally gave it up later on I bought them from a different vendor , newly wanted to blow them and figured out that they are stuck with the same strength and are not willing to come out. I am totally agree with Jason that they are shrinking with the heat , which I can only imagine that the manufacture must have been cutting some corners to satisfy their greed . that heat is not something new it is, and was always there. Luckily my both filters are not dirty (driving less now a days) but I have already started looking for the alternative, if anybody have already better experience with any other manufacture?

 

Everyone of these sellers (let's call them the usual suspects) is exactly the same. Most of them do not have a phone number and if they did, they wouldn't answer the thing anyways! Sure you can try the chat function, but that's another waste of time. So we are relegated to trying email only to be fobbed off by some dumbass swearing they are always right and we the buyers are morons. Kinda like asking the kid in the plumbing department at the homelessshithole to help you with a sprinkler problem. DON'T BOTHER! Customer service is a joke these days.

Anyways, T is right, the heat has always been there, but you can bet something has changed, probably the chemical composition of the seal. A decision that was ultimately made by some overpaid jackwagon upstairs trying to save 5cents to lessen the effect of inflation!

I'll get off my soapbox now, but let's face it, the world has turned to shit over the last 20years That's why I bought my W123 this year. I'll be damned if I'm going to get hogtied by some car maker that requires a subscription to have cruise control. At least with my old car, I already know the cruise is tits up! ;-) A stuck air cleaner is not something worth losing sleep over. But it sure is a good time to poke fun at these companies these days. They are the real azzhats!

 

Same thing here.

What I end up doing was applying silicone spray to the inner edge of the foam parts and then to remove it, I’d spray more silicone to inner edge and then turned it to break it loose. Not only is very tight, is also sticky. Which you know, is bad because is difficult to install and you can break the air cleaner housing rubber mounts, but the good thing is that it doesn’t allow unfiltered air to bypass the filter.

Never had those issues with the Fram and Valeo ones. Those always fit a bit loose.

 

The inner foam rib is on the large size, I've taken to using a razor knife to trim the inner foam rib on the top and bottom sealing rings down to almost the metal mesh in order to get a fit that allows me to remove the filter with ease whenever I need to. As noted it seems the Mann filter is the only one with the tight fitment issue.

 

Thanks for all the help and insights gents. I put another one in and it was snug. I can assume it will be a bear to remove when I get to that. I thought I was going crazy trying to make sense out of why such a simple part could cause grief. But what y'all have said makes sense.

 

I had the same problem. The filter had only been on for a month, but I had to tear it off using a needle-nose pliers, which split the filter element. The Mann filter was stamped, "Made in Bosnia-Herzegovina."

 

Interesting. Thanks for jumping in. That's the same thing that is stamped on my Mann Filter.

 

The Mann filters lately are all tight, and I also had to hack the old ones apart to get them out of the filter assembly. I had no problems with a recent Hengst filter, by the way, and other owners report the same experience. So I think it really is tied to the Mann product. Even a good brand like that can run into manufacturing issues.

 

Exactly what I did, I noticed that the silicon that they use to hold it together is over applied on the outer ring creating an extremely tight fit! I simply used a razor blade and trimmed off the excess before installing .....

 

Found this thread hoping for tips, I was thinking it should NOT be this difficult to remove.. but looks like I'll have to cut my filter off too.

 

The housing ring holding the filter has a spot in its edge at the 11:30 position that might let you get purchase on the filter without damaging the metal.