I purchased a K&N Filter for the E24. When I opened the hood I realized installing it was not a simple project. Two out of the three clips holding the cover on one side are easy. But the third clip on the inside won't open because of the MAF sensor body. So, what's the solution other than removing the whole MAF sensor and related plumbing? Many thanks.
From the 1st pic shown in this auction, looks like 3 are accessible from the topside and for the 4th, you have to loosen the hose clamp at the airbox-end of the elbow and pull the elbow over or free-enough to get to it. Since it's just two hose clamps on the elbow, might be easiest to just loosen both hose clamps and remove the rubber elbow. If you can't get your hands on it, you might be able to get long needle-nosed pliers on it, a pick tool, or possibly flip it with a screwdriver. http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-E12-E23...ash=item3af1423b91:g:VxEAAOSw~9BZsNK7&vxp=mtr http://www.acehardware.com/product/...ZTm6JrGOUxtEOrh7MHau13Lbk5TaAApxoCuS4QAvD_BwE
Ok, I see what you're talking about - looks like you can probably get a finger under the rubber elbow for that clip, but you have to loosen that hose clamp anyway to separate the elbow to pull off the airbox top cover. I'm not sure how the bottom half of the airbox is secured - if it's in rubber mounts, you might be able to wiggle it over a bit to get enough room to release the catch spring adjacent to the maf (really it's an air-flow meter, not a mass air-flow sensor, fwiw). But, old car, so, old rubber gets hard, perhaps a good idea not to go overboard with force application trying to push the airbox (or maf) over for space. If you can pop the top part over, maybe you could use a screwdriver to push or lever the lower part off & over the edge lip. Perhaps the simplest 1st thing to try is more leverage than you get with your fingers - put a screwdriver in the 'U' of the top part of the spring clip, pry it over, and see if a little more leverage allows you to pop it over enough for the lower clip to get free.
I totally agree. I'm going to separate the elbow and gently work from there. Thanks again for all your help.
