Stealerships and cabin filters

[WylieCoyote]

I'm betting the 3rd generation Focus gets a lot of takers at the dealership for cabin filter changes. It's not behind the glove box. It's buried at the bottom of the center console, against the firewall, blocked by a wire harness. The position you have to get yourself into to see it, and actually replace it is not for the faint-of-heart. I may have someone from Cirque du Soleil come change mine next time.

But I refuse to pay whatever a stealership may have in mind for the job.

 

[Vikas]

Last visit to the dealer told me that my cabin air filter needs replacing. I do not really know if he actually looked at it or just told me. I do wish he had given me a quote on that 30 second replacement labor

I ordered the replacement and changed it yesterday. I am not sure if it was really needed to be replaced but for $14 filter, I decided to just replace it. Here is the old one.




I forgot to take the picture of the new one but it was fresh white on this side.

 

[Silverado12]

I stock up on all kinds of filters when I'm at the auto parts store. It usually takes me 15 minutes to change a filter if I'm doing it for the first time. My Mustang is the most involved, but it's not too bad. I have a hard time paying anyone for anything that I can do myself. You can save a ton of money doing service and repairs yourself. (Also not buying extended warranties, but that's a whole 'nother issue).

 

[Jetronic]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
Last visit to the dealer told me that my cabin air filter needs replacing. I do not really know if he actually looked at it or just told me. I do wish he had given me a quote on that 30 second replacement labor

I ordered the replacement and changed it yesterday. I am not sure if it was really needed to be replaced but for $14 filter, I decided to just replace it. Here is the old one.




I forgot to take the picture of the new one but it was fresh white on this side.


the old one looks like it has carbon in it, but isn' actually dirty. The new white one will have had no carbon, and more pleats.

 

[SirTanon]

A while back, when I still had my 2003 Mercury Sable, I went through and did a full maintenance pass.. new air filter, blew out the vents, recalibrated the Climate Controls, checked/changed/topped off all the fluids.. and replaced the cabin air filter.. The previous owner had been very good about keeping service records, and so I knew that the last time the Cabin Air Filter had been replaced was by a dealership.

Old filter on the left, new on the right..

I was VERY careful about removing the filter and I should note that I did not have to yank it out or force it.. so this was due to how they installed it. As you can see, they trashed it when they installed it. I'm surprised it worked at all. The new one went in without any problems, so I know it wasn't a problem with the car.

 

[marine65]

I recently was at Walmart getting tires and saw that they will install a cabin air filter for $10.00.
The up side is that $10.00 is real cheap.
The downside is that a Walmart employee with do the install.
I know ,I know I let them put tires on my car, but that's pretty much the same thing they do all day.
Cabin air filters can be a little tough to do on some cars.

 

[Jetronic]

some cars require you to remove the gas pedal... $10.00 would be well cheap then.

 

[SirTanon]

On the sable that the filters shown above went to, in order to change out the filter, you had to disconnect the windshield wipers and remove the plastic cowl at the base of the windshield to access a very cramped little area.

It took a little finesse, but I got the new one in there straight and 100% intact. Yeah, paying $10 to get it put in for me would likely have been a major convenience, but given the manner in which the last stealership installed the CAF, I'm not about to tempt fate. That one clearly got forced in.

 

[marine65]

Originally Posted By: SirTanon
On the sable that the filters shown above went to, in order to change out the filter, you had to disconnect the windshield wipers and remove the plastic cowl at the base of the windshield to access a very cramped little area.

It took a little finesse, but I got the new one in there straight and 100% intact. Yeah, paying $10 to get it put in for me would likely have been a major convenience, but given the manner in which the last stealership installed the CAF, I'm not about to tempt fate. That one clearly got forced in.


I had a Sable like that. Pain in the butt to change.
I wonder if Wally world has any restrictions on cars that they will do for $10?
Like just the ones behind the glove box, all others no.

 

[Jim K]

Mine in the 14 Corolla is behind the glove box it takes 2 minutes.

 

[cb450sc]

I was surprised to learn that my Kia dealership does not have an installation charge for cabin filters!

 

[mcgophers]

Originally Posted By: SirTanon
On the sable that the filters shown above went to, in order to change out the filter, you had to disconnect the windshield wipers and remove the plastic cowl at the base of the windshield to access a very cramped little area.

It took a little finesse, but I got the new one in there straight and 100% intact. Yeah, paying $10 to get it put in for me would likely have been a major convenience, but given the manner in which the last stealership installed the CAF, I'm not about to tempt fate. That one clearly got forced in.


Maybe I should reconsider my standing offer to do the filter in my girlfriend's Sable. J/k

 

[Bbonez]

Sunset Chevy in Lompoc CA quoted the previous owner $70 for a CAF in the 2013 Cruze I just picked up. I replaced it for $10.50, and it is almost as easy as changing a magazine in a glove box mounted 6 disk CD changer.

 

[marine65]

Did the same thing I did a year ago.
I went on Rock Auto and ordered 2 filters. I got the cheapest ones they had. Brand was Pronto.
Cost was $16.00 with shipping for both.
They were rather light weight compared to the Fram and Purolator filters I have used in the past.
But I change them out every June. So I figure they are good enough for a year.

 

[Tomioka]

I told my aunt to change the cabin air filter in her 2010 Honda Civic since I looked out of curiosity if it was ever changed. She said she had the car recently serviced at the dealership but they hadn't changed the cabin air filter which they charge almost $100! She also didn't know it has a cabin air filter so I offered to change it out for the price of the part. For an el-generico filter at o-r $20 is still expensive.

 

[HOG]

Originally Posted By: Jetronic
some cars require you to remove the gas pedal... $10.00 would be well cheap then.


If done for $10 at WM, you may not get the peddle back

 

[NO2]

Our lame local Subaru dealer (Dunning Subaru, worst Google rating in Michigan) claimed a Fram CAF was 'dirty' and 'didn't fit', and was responsible for the cover falling off. The 'dirt' was the carbon in the filter element and they forgot to fasten the cover.

That being said, I have had issues with non-OEM engine air filters with inferior gaskets, so I just went back to OEM.

 

[EricBeau]

That's insane. I work in a Ford service department- we charge $20 for cabin filter installation (usually $25 for the filter) and $5 for air filter installation ($22 for the filter).

I do my own at home and use WIX filters.