I phoned BMW assistance yesterday afternoon and the guy who came to my rescue ended up cancelling his evening out with his wife. He was working on my car for hours, even he had problems aligning the filter and the cover. Getting the cover off was almost as difficult as putting it back on.

My local BMW dealer are putting their best man on the job - he knows my car inside out. He also wont laugh too much at my DIY job!!

I just hope that this K&N filter being in for a day hasn't caused any damage to the MAF. What do you think?

There is also a bit of plastic to find - god only knows where it went. I didn't even hear it fall - it's from the cover which surrounds the pollen filter housing. The female part of the twist clip. The engine cover was off at that time.... So was the oil filler cap. Bloody mad isn't it? You have to remove the oil filler cap to remove the top cover of the air filter housing!!

Just what were those German designers thinking of when they finalised the designs for this engine. I mean, it's not as though there isn't enough space under the 3.0d bonnet

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