Please be sure to clean your Cabin Filters!

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Hey guys.

Recently purchased a used 2012 Nissan Frontier with about 45k on the clock. I gave it a thorough look over and it seemed to be a pretty decent purchase. Bought it in January 2016. Cold weather, fan seemed kind of "meh", took a while to heat the truck up, and constantly got the smell of dog (i saw dog hair in places, cleaned up, freshened cleaned carpet etc).

Well I decided to change the Engine Air Filter and it appeared to be due, perhaps an oversight by the dealership. Did a few other maintenance items since I bought and today I decided to change the cabin filter.

#1 - Snapped the retaining clip on the cover *DOH
frown.gif


#2 - The amount of [censored] that came out was....i didn't think it was possible...seriously, in all my years I've never seen this MUCH stuff -_-.

20160221_144333_zpsztk6dhym.jpg



Difference between output on the blower is night and day. Looking into how much of a challenge getting into the blower itself is going to be and possibly the air duct into the filter. Make sure it's all cleaned out, as I couldn't prevent "some" of this debris falling in there.


Items in the photo:
*Straw refuse
*Napkin refuse
*hair (cat?)
*dog hair (seperate)
*insulation?
*normal road items


Was expecting to pull out a dead animal of some sort given the amount of filth in there.
 
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The only ones I have seen that are worse were on vehicles where some small animal gets inside the heater box and the blower motor makes hamburger.
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
The only ones I have seen that are worse were on vehicles where some small animal gets inside the heater box and the blower motor makes hamburger.


Lovely, definitely going to give them a call then. I would expect them to give a car a quick check up before turning it around. Honestly that was some disgusting stuff, and i wasn't expecting (very difficult to pull the filters out).
 
Is that the D22 or D40 ?

I've got a D22, and there's no cabin air filter on the Aussie models.
 
I'd be looking at the wiring up under there too if you can. Definitely looks like mice. They love wiring insulation.
 
Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Yes, I'd definitely give them a call esp if this was a Nissan dealer who would have the filters in stock. What happened to the Venza?

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3256891/1


I was very "equity" positive on my Venza, and given I just closed on a house, Venza wasn't able to carry/haul what I need (child seat preventing me from folding down most times, and others just wouldn't fit (2 cars to HD/Lowes etc). I was renting trucks from Home Depot/Lowes at $70-$100 bucks a clip, and i decided to get a small truck that can do what I need and commute to work as well.

Honestly, in hindsight, I should have kept the Venza and held out :|

Live & Learn. That Venza was a rock solid vehicle. Hoping this does the same
 
Originally Posted By: ejes
I'd be looking at the wiring up under there too if you can. Definitely looks like mice. They love wiring insulation.


Definitely will check, thanks for the suggestion/heads up.
 
Originally Posted By: Shannow
Is that the D22 or D40 ?

I've got a D22, and there's no cabin air filter on the Aussie models.



It's a D40.
 
If I found that mess where I live, I would know for a fact that it was a pack rat. I have actually had a pack rat do that to the fan in my '05 Tacoma (No cabin filter).

After I cleaned it out, with fan removal, it was back in the same condition the next morning. Solution was to fit an expanded metal screen of my own fabrication above the fan.

I hate rodents.
 
What did you do about the clip?



I sure hate when a piece of flimsy plastic, which holds something important together, snaps so easily. I saw a tool somewhere, that they make, that is used for this reason.. Kind of a specialty tool that probably only the dealership of a specific make would have in the service bay.
 
I didn't do anything about the clip, it closed the lid (it's loose) but the clip is actually part of the box in there..so replacing it would be a monumental effort.

I went outside and removed the wiper cowl and really couldn't find an entry way, but I know it has to be there. I'll try again next weekend and dig around the net for the ventilation routing. Not foreign to digging through the dash/firewall. The inlet has to be somewhere under there, my 04 Xterra wasn't much different in assembly.

I think they might have come up the cowl drain, no way one of them could fit through the vent openings on the cowl.
 
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As the late Phil Rizzuto would say, HOLY COW!

Originally Posted By: Anies
Think it might have been mice?.....

IMO, good chance. Seems like nesting material of some sort. More than just simple airborne material.

Thanks for pics.
 
Wow, lucked out that I didn't stumble upon a corpse yet. Thanks for sharing!

I never had this issue before so mice never crossed my mind. Lol
 
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