cabin air filter cleaning

[digitaldrifter91]

my cabin air filter story. sorrie for the length, im bored =)

yesterday i cleaned out my moms cabin air filter for the first time. she has a 98 mercury villager with 43k on it. i finally opend it up and found a ton of craps in the filter, not to mention a faulty seal in the back that let in alot of dust!.

unfortunatly volvo (my cars dealer) does not make a cabin air filter for my van, even though it came with one and i cannot find it in stores..fram has one but it costs 100 bucks.

i cleaned it out tried tappping it and everytime a ton of dirt, sand, and bugs fell out. i took the whole system out and fixed the foam seals by repositioning them and adding glue and some new foam to prevent some dirt getting in.

i was thinking since i tapped the filter and used a compressed air to get the dirt out, the filter may have small microsopic holes now. so i went to lowes and bought this filter for the air vents in the house that was electro charged or whatever and put it in front of the filter. "pre filter" i call it. i doubt the synthetic paper that the vans cabin filter has can block all pollen..at least now i have a chance.

sealing was a major issue in that nothing really sealed tightly. i put bigger seals so that they will be squeezed when screwed in creating a super tight seal.

i posted to just for people to check if their filter is actually good. especially those seals when they get old, and when all that pressure gets to it.

in all cost= $3.75 for the pre filter
2 hours, and a lost screwdriver that i found later inside the wheel wall hehe.

maybe someone has another tip for the filter hehe who knows. have a nice day!

[ May 02, 2003, 03:08 PM: Message edited by: digitaldrifter91 ]

 

[gfcrane]

Your cabin air filter story was interesting since I had a similar adventure with a 02 Nissan Maxima filter. Once you figure out where it is, behind the glove compartment, it only takes half hour or so to get it out. It turns out the original is a kind of plastic or nylon stiff fabic maybe an eighth inch thick. Anyhow, I got it out and went to the local dealer for a replacement. This was a unit similar to an air cleaner element with frame and paper pleated filter media. When I found out it cost $48.95 I declined to purchase.

Returned home and decided to wash the thing, even though I was afraid it would turn to mush. I soaked it in 409 and sloshed it around in the sink for a while and a surprising amount of dirt came out. It seemed to retain shape and form so I dried it in the sun and re-installed. This resulted in a notable increase in air delivery to the cabin. Since it's not very large, 6 by 9 inches, it doesn't seem to take much to reduce flow.

I now have looked at other types of filter media to do as you did, build my own, but haven't yet figured out a plan.

 

[digitaldrifter91]

hehe interesting. mine was about 22 inches long but only 3 inches high. i wish i can make my own, but that takes alot of time. i dont have that time. hahah i cheated and put the filter pannels in the front hehe.

i bet if i washed mine it would fall apart.

mine is located under the windsheild wipers i had to take off the whole pannel that held the window in place. 12 screws i think. i wish mine was easier hehe.

maybe next time ill try and wash it, but i bet it will go bad. o well i bet it will be degraded to ashes next time any ways =).

i wonder if air filter for the car and the cabin air filters are constructed differnetly? cabin air filter shoudl filter out pollen and bacteria...but isnt that the same as a normal air filter?

 

[digitaldrifter91]

[ May 03, 2003, 08:39 AM: Message edited by: rugerman1 ]

 

[got boost?]

quote:

---

Originally posted by digitaldrifter91:
my cabin air filter story. sorrie for the length, im bored =)

yesterday i cleaned out my moms cabin air filter for the first time. she has a 98 mercury villager with 43k on it. i finally opend it up and found a ton of craps in the filter, not to mention a faulty seal in the back that let in alot of dust!.

unfortunatly volvo (my cars dealer) does not make a cabin air filter for my van, even though it came with one and i cannot find it in stores..fram has one but it costs 100 bucks.

i cleaned it out tried tappping it and everytime a ton of dirt, sand, and bugs fell out. i took the whole system out and fixed the foam seals by repositioning them and adding glue and some new foam to prevent some dirt getting in.

i was thinking since i tapped the filter and used a compressed air to get the dirt out, the filter may have small microsopic holes now. so i went to lowes and bought this filter for the air vents in the house that was electro charged or whatever and put it in front of the filter. "pre filter" i call it. i doubt the synthetic paper that the vans cabin filter has can block all pollen..at least now i have a chance.

sealing was a major issue in that nothing really sealed tightly. i put bigger seals so that they will be squeezed when screwed in creating a super tight seal.

i posted to just for people to check if their filter is actually good. especially those seals when they get old, and when all that pressure gets to it.

in all cost= $3.75 for the pre filter
2 hours, and a lost screwdriver that i found later inside the wheel wall hehe.

maybe someone has another tip for the filter hehe who knows. have a nice day!

---

I've never worked on that particular car, but every cabin filter I've seen has a foam gasket that does not extend around the entire circumference. I believe this is to allow airflow in the event that the filter is not regularly changed. be careful.

 

[digitaldrifter91]

o true. it was a foam gasket. it extended not on teh filter. but the area that held the filter in place "frame". it was sucked in basically cause of the glue, so i reglued it and coverd up a small leak on the other side. i didnt change much though. at least now more air will travel though the filter than just straight inside the car.

thanks for letting me know, ill keep an eye on it