Cabin Filters (NSFB) not safe for BITOG

I live in the desert, and neither the CAF nor the EAF in my car looks like that... of course, I change them out annually whether needed or not.
 
In most cases, folks do not even know that their car has a cabin filter. My friend kept telling me, I change the air filter regularly until I pull the cabin filtero_O
i just found out last fall, that the Sonata I owned from Aug 2001-Feb 2010, and put about 100,000 miles on, had a cabin filter.

I can only imagine what that thing looked like....
 
I just bought a 5 yr old MB ML350 with 37k on it. Noticed the ac smelling like a dirty vacuum cleaner bag. Sure enough it had never been changed. And the vehicle has 3 filters. It still smells with new filters so next step is to clean the heater/ac core.
The air filter also had never been changed but it is a pita to check or change and I think the car has a monitor that signals when it's totally clogged.LOL
Check for a recall on the AC odor. The vehicle might be young enough.
 
No recalls but there is a class action settlement covering ac smells. My year is included.
 
Another.
CAF3.jpg
 
My sister gets her 2012 Accord serviced religiously at her local Honda dealership. She was visiting recently and I pulled her CAF and it was pretty bad, maybe 4 years or more based upon mfg date stamp and amount of crud. Very surprised those yo-yo's had not hit her up for that.
 
OK, I'll play - this is from this afternoon, out of a '98 Honda CR-V with 345K km on it. Given the difficulty involved in accessing the cabin filter, I doubt it had been changed in a long time, if ever. The owner had complained of poor heat, and the HVAC cabin fan was roaring away on high but generating little airflow out of the vents.

The side-by-side photo was taken after I'd cleaned a bunch of debris out of the old one. It did not pass light when held up to the sun. The new one is from NAPA.

20210410_133256.jpg


Here's my driveway after I dropped the old one a few times to see how much dirt we could get out of it:

20210410_160805.jpg
 
Chevy Trailblazer 2002 and 2003 had an access panel and screw for a cabin air filter but in GM's cheapness they deleted the actual filter. From about mid-2003 on the access panel and screw were gone from the evaporator housing, just a smooth surface where they were. I installed a CAF in my Trailblazer in about 2004 when people started finding about it. Takes the same filter as a 1999 Silverado.

I recall when I had a '68 GTO at about 15 years old it developed a leak in the evaporator core. Got it out and found was filthy with dirt grass leaves etc and apparently that had made a corrosive condition while wet and caused a hole and leak.
 
Many say: A dirty filter is a happy filter. This is funnier when read right after seeing those clogged CAFs.
Many say: Oh, so anyone living pre-CAF is going to die? You gotta stand for something, I suppose.
Ed in Tx said it right. They're there to protect the AC evaporator / heater core.
 
Here in Central Pennsylvania, we're the truck terminal ground zero for the east coast, with thousands of diesel trucks and trains, sometimes the air quality is pretty poor. Both my intake and cabin filters get pretty dark fast. We're also allergy Central with insane pollen levels. With my allergies, I check & change my cabin filter usually every 6 months or when it turns grey. As my CRV has automatic climate control, my windows are seldom down so almost all the air in the cabin goes through that filter. I change intake filters at about 10k.Takes 5 minutes to change both, can't see paying the dealer to change either, even at 73, not a problem.
 
Will add a pic later but just rented a Chrysler Voyager mini-van while on family vacation out west this week/last week. AC was cold but no air flow, could hear fan working hard so figured a blockage....didn't occur to me that the cabin filter was likely never changed at 48K miles (that's a lot for a rental vehicle but with the current new/used car drama rental fleets are this way). I popped open YouTube to familiarize myself with the location etc. and dropped by the Napa in Jackson, WY to pick up a filter. $55! Holy $hit. Changed it out. AC fixed/full air flow now. The old filter was so caked with dirt it blew my mind. Lots of dirt roads here so I suppose no surprise. I'll just get Enterprise to reimburse me. On my personal vehicles I change them once/year but live in the dust-free suburbs on the East Coast.
 
Back
Top