Don't forget to change your Cabin Air Filter!

[kschachn]

I just changed the one on a 1994 BMW 530i that per the previous owner (we just bought the car) had never been changed. 17 years old! That thing had whole warring factions of bacteria and insects taking up residence.

It takes about an hour and two skinned knuckles to replace it BTW. I've never seen such a thing, it requires removal of most of the right side of the instrument panel and an entire duct. Even then you still can't see the actual door that well, by far the worst one I have ever done.

 

[glum]

I utterly despised my old BMW 528i, but one thing I can say for it is that the cabin air filters were easy to replace. Open the hood and there they are. I don't think they did a bloody bit of good, but they were easy to access by golly!

 

[SteveSRT8]

Same on my Chrysler, no tools required, takes about 15 seconds start to finish.

I like the ones with activated charcoal in them.

 

[glum]

I pulled out my Purolator cabin air filter today. What a piece of garbage. Held it up to the sun and I can see lots of areas that are thinner than others--almost like pinholes all over the place. And two of the four edges didn't seat properly, so I had to use blue masking tape to hold the stupid thing in place so it would function somewhat as it was ostensibly designed to do. Carindal BITOG sin or not, I'm really beginning to hate Purolator.

 

[ARB1977]

The Tacoma and Jetta don't have one.

 

[ltslimjim]

I wish I had one, my allergies are terrible right now.

 

[Kestas]

Around here, where it's not that bad, I find filters need to be changed every 15K.

The cabin filter on my 95 Mercedes E320 is a real pain to change. It's virtually impossible to do it without breaking all the plastic parts to get to it. And I'm generally a patient mechanic without 'gorilla' attitudes.

 

[sciphi]

We still have snow on the ground. No pollen yet.

The Fit's cabin air filter was kinda nasty at 35k miles when it got changed. It was a piece of cake to change behind the glove box. Flip the latches down on the glovebox, flip down the latches on the filter cover, yank it out, and change.

 

[silvert4r]

We found a nest in the EL's filter after it was stored for 3 months outside.

I've also used furnace filters for my T4R, works just fine. One piece at $10 can be cut into 4 perfect cabin filters. Much much cheaper.
I change it twice a year and takes about a minute on the T4R.

 

[Loobed]

My cabin filters get dirtier than my engine air filter.

 

[Gilstein]

changed out the wife's santa fe's air filter and cabin filter today. The air filter has been changed in the last 20,000 miles or so, but I knew the cabin air filter hadn't been changed in the 2 years we've been married. I take the glove box out and ready myself for how much junk collected in the filter .... low and behold there was no filter, just an empty slot. At least there's a clean one in there now.

 

[Old Mustang Guy]

I decided to check mine in my 06 Mustang GT. The filter has been in since the car had 20k and I replaced with a Wix that I had to special order. The veh. had 53k when I took it out last week. Surprisingly, it was not very dirty at all. The pleats in the Wix seem to be made out of polyester like a home air filter. I vacuumed it out and put it back in instead of paying $20 for a new Fram at WalMart.

 

[901Memphis]

Mine didn't come with one now i change it every year, in 1 year it gets pretty bad; worse than the one pictured. After half the year i can already feel the decease in pressure when running a/c

 

[Nick R]

I'll probably change my CAF this summe.r We get some intense pollen here, it turns every horizontal surface yellow, thick and gross. Lots of pine/evergreen trees in the immediate area.

 

[JDD]

That is not that bad!!! I bought my son a used 98 contour with what had to be the original CAF. It was black as tar and didn't look like any air would pass through it. I suspected it was bad when I drove it home and the windows fogged up and I couldn't get them unfogged for about 20 minutes.

 

[Towncivilian]

So I took a look at my filters (NAPA Gold) which were in use for about a year now. Sorry about the poorly lit photos, forgot to turn on flash:



They don't look absolutely awful, so I put them back in and will run them for 6 months, then replace.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

2 years and 20k miles. I don't know how it got this dirty.

 

[ZZman]

Just changed my 2003 Camry air and cabin filters. Forgot about them and had about 50,000 on the cabin filter.

It looked nasty.

Not too hard to change as it is hid behind the glove box.

 

[ltslimjim]

^Breathe the free air again!

 

[FZ1]

Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
2 years and 20k miles. I don't know how it got this dirty.

I'm almost afraid to ask,but how did that,apparent,cork get in your cabin AF?