Changing Your Cabin Air Filter

Changing your cabin air filter is definitely a project you should take on yourself.  Usually, you don’t need any tools, but at most you’ll need a Philips screwdriver and a 10mm socket.  The cabin air filter on your vehicle will be located in your ventilation system usually right before your ventilation fan.  In some vehicles, the ventilation design prohibits that so the filter will be just after the fan.  Either way, the filter is always before the heater core and evaporator because its job is to protect those components from getting clogged.

Most cabin air filters are accessed from below or right behind your glove box.  Usually, the easiest thing to do is find your ventilation fan then start looking for a long door about 1″ 1.5″ wide and 4-8″ long.  The door usually helps in place by a clip at either end but sometimes they are held on by screws.  Once you locate the door the holds the cabin air filter in, simply pop the door off and remove your old cabin air filter.  The only difficulty is if the filter is at a tough angle or in a difficult to reach spot it may take a little work to get yourself wiggled into position to see it and remove it.

Even though changing your cabin air filter is pretty straight forward, we’ve always got some helpful hints!

Changing Your Cabin Air Filter Helpful Hints:

• Make sure you’ve got the right filter to go in on hand before you start.  It can keep you from driving around with a half taken apart car looking for the right filter.
• Make sure your ventilation fan is off while you’re working.  Even a low-speed fan can make a mess of the dust or dirt trapper by your air filter and can also be dangerous for any fingers that may get too close to the blades
• Bring a vacuum.  Changing cabin air filters are often overlooked in routine maintenance which means they are usually very dirty.  Once you’ve pulled the filter out, vacuum as much remaining debris out of the fan or heater core fins as you can.  You’ll also probably want to clean up the passenger side floor mat when you are finished.
• If you have to remove your glove box, pay attention to how it was attached, and any lighting for it and any soft opening or maximum opening stay devices that may be attached.
• Make sure you install the new air filter in the correct direction.  Besides the direction of airflow mentioned in the video above, many cabin air filters are almost square so the correct orientation for the new filter can be difficult to determine if you don’t pay close attention when removing the old filter.  If the filter door doesn’t close easily, try reorienting the filter rather than forcing the door.

Thanks for watching and good luck with your project!

pictures provided by:

cabin_air_filter.jpg – By Joe_Potato – Licensed by Getty Images – Original Link