CAF on a 01 Suburban with 320K miles

Joined
Jul 14, 2017
Messages
1,272
Location
Dallas Texas Area
2001 Suburban 320K miles. Fresh purchase earlier this month

Symptoms: Poor A/C air flow performance and gravel/Clay smell
33.gif


*Had to do this overnight when NOT 95 degrees with 80% humidity during day time here in Dallas
smirk2.gif



No creatures, twigs, bags of Cocaine lol. just dirt and leaves as shown in pics


Blew some compressed air, Vacuumed up all debris, Sprayed some Febreez Tide all around this blower fan and CAF area and replaced with pictured Fram Freshbreeze with Arm/Hammer baking soda that I scored for $9
thumbsup2.gif



And this is cabin filter job #2 this year, Did my 01 silverado a few months ago and gonna do my 02 Suburban this week when back from mechanics shop
thumbsup2.gif



*Don't forget to wear gloves and mask when doing these jobs, Especially these days with current situation

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by IndyFan
Wow, looks like it was never changed!



So will this make it a record on here then ?? 19 years/320K miles
grin2.gif




Dave
 
Would think what you did -- would have made a significant difference immediately?? I change mine every other year, regardless of miles.
 
"*Don't forget to wear gloves and mask when doing these jobs, Especially these days with current situation " What does that mean?
 
I also don't see why someone would be worried about catching disease from a CAF replacement, unless there were rodents in the squirrel cage. Having said that, some cars have seat filters....those might need gloves....yuck!
 
Originally Posted by Chris142
Did you find the 2nd filter in the back of the box?



Sure did. I yanked it out with a screw driver
34.gif



Dave
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by BAJA_05
Would think what you did -- would have made a significant difference immediately?? I change mine every other year, regardless of miles.



It sure did 100%
thumbsup2.gif
Weird clay smell was instantly gone and A/C felt ICE COLD !!


Dave
 
A lot of these were never changed because the original vehicle purchasers never knew there was a filter to change. From MY1999-2002 GM installed them in the new body style full size trucks and suvs. The 2002MY was the last year GM put the cabin filter in the Silverado/Tahoe/suburban/avalanche and it's GM corp cousins. They didn't add filters to them again until the 2014 Silverado redesign and 2015 Tahoe/suburban redesign.

GM was getting way too many warranty claims on burned up blower motors and also clogged evaporators so they stopped installing the filters. I personally knew two families that had damaged ac evaporators fail in a Tahoe and Yukon XL, both 2002 models and neither had the filters changed once. It wasn't the greatest design to be honest, cabin filters were basically unheard of at that time and the systems are much better designed now. Both of them failed shortly after the warranty expired. I believe there's two filters or so I thought. It is rather time consuming to change them out.
 
I changed out the original CAF in my 2014 Focus today at a shade under 50K.....I usually would do it sooner but Ford doesn't make it easy.*
I was surprised how clean the OE filter was....I could have left it in longer.

*My Corolla and Elantra are simple to change....just drop the glove box and they are right there....the Ford's put it in a more difficult spot but
after doing it once it will be easier next time. The Corolla and Elantra always have a ton of junk in them but the Ford didn't for some reason....

The thing I didn't like about doing the Focus CAF is that you have to distort the filter to get it in.....I don't see how I'll get the less flexible charcoal
filter into my Escape if it's as hard to access as the Focus....
 
Originally Posted by pbm
I changed out the original CAF in my 2014 Focus today at a shade under 50K.....I usually would do it sooner but Ford doesn't make it easy.*
I was surprised how clean the OE filter was....I could have left it in longer.

*My Corolla and Elantra are simple to change....just drop the glove box and they are right there....the Ford's put it in a more difficult spot but
after doing it once it will be easier next time. The Corolla and Elantra always have a ton of junk in them but the Ford didn't for some reason....

The thing I didn't like about doing the Focus CAF is that you have to distort the filter to get it in.....I don't see how I'll get the less flexible charcoal
filter into my Escape if it's as hard to access as the Focus....


I've got a '13 Cmax, and Dad a '15 Escape...same job as your focus likely...same filter...
the escape is slightly easier for me, b/c of the body height....other than that, same blankety blanking PITA...

even my nephew's '05 impala, that you have to remove part of the cowl to access the filter, is easier
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by buddylpal
A lot of these were never changed because the original vehicle purchasers never knew there was a filter to change. From MY1999-2002 GM installed them in the new body style full size trucks and suvs. The 2002MY was the last year GM put the cabin filter in the Silverado/Tahoe/suburban/avalanche and it's GM corp cousins. They didn't add filters to them again until the 2014 Silverado redesign and 2015 Tahoe/suburban redesign.

GM was getting way too many warranty claims on burned up blower motors and also clogged evaporators so they stopped installing the filters. I personally knew two families that had damaged ac evaporators fail in a Tahoe and Yukon XL, both 2002 models and neither had the filters changed once. It wasn't the greatest design to be honest, cabin filters were basically unheard of at that time and the systems are much better designed now. Both of them failed shortly after the warranty expired. I believe there's two filters or so I thought. It is rather time consuming to change them out.



Ya I agree these are mainly family vehicles like minivans "drive and abuse" till the wheels fall off/motor/trans go out. And I too have read and heard most owners didn't even know there was a cabin filter in these trucks unless a good salesman/ Service advisor informed the owner of it. Hence why mine( in pics) looked nasty


On my 02 Suburban when brought it home to do "Personal full inspection" It was both the blower fan resistor module AND the blower fan motor that were no good. Scored both on clearance for $35 on Amazon warehouse deals
thumbsup2.gif
lol. So this now warns me that the cabin filter is gonna be NUCLEAR bad if it affected those 2 things !!


Will post pics of that job also this week
thumbsup2.gif



Dave
 
Originally Posted by maximus
You PURCHASED a 19 year old vehicle with 320,000 miles?



Oh man not this again
smirk2.gif
. Yes, As a work beater/ car parts hauler


It has recovered front seats, Cold a/c, Bluetooth radio, No engine/trans issues and runs and drives great
thumbsup2.gif



And the 5.3's are bullet proof as long as maintained

Dave



[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by maximus
Understandable I guess. hope you got it for next to nothing.



$1500 + a thank you $20 bill + 6 qts of Valvoline Modern Engine 5W20 from my mega oil stash for PO's 2500 ram hemi. The previous owner drove it 50 miles to my place in north Dallas area to drop off


For how it has performed the last few weeks, I feel I got my moneys worth
thumbsup2.gif
And I use to work at a GM dealer and learned A LOT from the techs and what came in thru the service center. This saves me from buying junk lol
wink.gif
cool.gif



Dave
 
Last edited:
Back
Top