2003 Honda Odyssey PITA cabin A/F

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wemay

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Changed out the cabin air filters on the Hyundai and my wife's Aunt's Odyssey today. The Hyundai is as simple as can be. Just like every other car I've done. ENTER the ODYSSEY.

Started off simple enough. Empty glovebox of contents. Remove tabs from left and right side of glovebox. Here stars the misery...

The filter is vertically situated behind a metal horizontal brase. That brase is covered by a plastic trim that needs to be cut off to reach the metal brace. Well, it appears that someone already took the liberty of cutting that piece off. The removal of the metal brace was easy enough but putting it back together after inserting the filter was a PITA. The screws go in from down below and the box door is in the way. All in all, a very involved process as far as cabin filter replacements goes.
 
That era Honda/Acura with the V-6 are all a pain yes, but they're easier with practice. I can change my wife's MDX in 10 minutes or so after having done it a few times.... Not as bad as some other things like timing belts!
 
I have seen a video of this process, it is quite involved for a cabin air filter replacement. Thankfully the cabin air filter on my Accord is a very simple job. Open glove box, slide out old filter, insert new filter.
 
My family had an '99 Odyssey that had that same cabin air filter setup. I remember having to cut that plastic when we first changed that filter. It was right when cabin air filters started to exist at all, so I guess it was better than nothing. I was at a friend's house yesterday and I watched him replace the filter in an '04 Escape. That was pretty interesting too, it was accessed through the engine bay where you had to remove two plastic cowls right under the passenger side windshield. Replacement has definitely gotten easier!
 
I had to smile when reading wemay's story. A few years ago I bought a 2001 Odyssey (10 years old with only 26,000 miles on the odometer). Took a couple of hours to do the disassembly, hacksaw work, and reassembly necessary to install a new filter, but the result was worth the effort. The old (very much original) filter was so deep with dirt, leaves, cottonwood tree seed cotton and various insects that the filter pleats could not be seen on the intake side. And this in a vehicle that spent every minute in the garage when not being driven. Lots of airborne debris in the unpolluted air of South Dakota.
 
However, as years went by Honda modified the placement of the cabin filters in subsequent models. For example 2012 Acura TL needs less than 15 seconds to swap the cabin air filter.
 
I feel the pain on this one. My GF acquired a 2004 Pilot that had never had the cabin filter changed. So I thought, wow this filter is on discount thru RA we can change it together. Oh boy, was I in for a surprise! Took about an hour with 2 people, needed a hacksaw blade etc. Had to basically hang upside down to get the darn screws/clips back into the right place to get it back together. I will say, it did smell fresh as I used one of those fram fresh breeze filters. I'm sure the dealer would have charged north of $200 for that filter swap. I wouldn't wish that job on anyone. Luckily, Honda has made it easier to change as I did a 2014 CRV in about 5 minutes.
 
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