Easier Diy Cabin Air Filter Replacement

[isrb710]

Armystrong,

First and foremost, thanks for your service to our country!!

Secondly, you made a GREAT post. I followed this and it worked out great. Luckily I found this post first and not the other one where you take part of the dash out!!

To get to the crud in the back of the air filter compartment, I used a long flat screwdriver to pull it forward and vacuum it out.

I recommend against blowing the crud "out" - so you don't blow it into the evaporator. On cars that don't have cabin air filters, crud gets into the bottom of the evaporator. When moisture condenses on the cold evaporator, it causes the crud to decompose. The acids eventually eat up your evaporator and cause a refrigerant leak. That means an EXPENSIVE evaporator replacement. Or you can go without A/C! ($1,200 was mentioned in one forum I frequent - it requires removing the dashboard on those cars to replace the evap.)

Ron

[nimbus2007]

Originally Posted by Armystrong

Insert the new Cabin Air Filter. Pay attention to the way the AIR FLOWS. This is a Bosch Air Filter that shows the air flow direction and the air box also shows the air flow direction. This Bosch filter cost $19.99 from Schucks. (No tax (Alaska Residents), Military Discount). It is a nice filter.

thanks for this write-up. Did my Air and Cabin filter yesterday in about an hour.

2 things I messed up:

1st, my friend only had a dremel handy. too pwerful. it melted the edges of the plastic cut-out piece. have to take care of that another day.

2nd, as noted in the above pic, I didn't realize the filter housing had directions on it to show the "air flow" direction. Just realized NOW that I inserted the filter incorrectly. need to check on it tonight.

hope that doesn't do any damage :-(

[Heathrm]

Thought this was going to take a little bit. I bought my 2003 Pilot in mid 2006 and I didn't know if this filter had ever been changed. When I started in on it, I realized that the cross-member had already been but out. Perfect, took 20 minutes tops and that was putting thing away also! Thank you for this great write-up!

[quietdragon]

Originally Posted by quietdragon

Followed the instructions for my 2008 EX-L Pilot.

Forgot to mention, although the instructions suggest removing the top clip first when removing the filter cover, I found it easier to remove the bottom clip first, then the top. And when reinstalling, attach the bottom clip first, then snap the top into place.

[Rotel]

Got around to doing mine today thinking it would be quick job as the plastic molding was already cut, but I encountered more debris then anticipated. Here in the desert all the native trees have very tiny leaves and of course with shade being scarce, I can't resist parking underneath them.

So just a tip for all - you might want have a small Shop-Vac on hand (the kind with the 1.25" diameter hose) but more importantly, a 12-14" extension. After vacuuming the leaves, there was still a lot of dried dirt inside (it appears to get damp inside, from the A/C I suppose) so I used a wooden paint stirrer (free and easy to find) with a folded paper towel taped around it that I lightly wet the end of. The stirrer is barely long enough, but fits perfectly in the channels to wipe clean the bottom of the filter housing.