True Story about Cabin Air Filter

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I was riding with a friend of mine with a 2009 Ponitiac G5 on a particularly hot day of more than 95F, well too hot for me. As he fired up the car he cranked the A/C and a little bit of cool-ish air petered out. I asked him if his fan was working correctly and he said on a previous trip he had the system pressure tested and the fan is working on all speeds and then charged him a fee (..of course) as he and his kids were quite uncomfortable during the trip.(115F)

I asked him when was the last time he changed his cabin air filter and he replied he had no idea what that was. As I explained its purpose, I opened his glove box and confirmed he had one. We pulled into a car parts store and I proceeded to remove his cabin air filter for inspection. It was the.most.nasty filter I had ever seen. It was stiff and the pleats were spread wide open, with each one more than 3/4 full of silt, with leaves and bug on top so that all the top of the filter was covered. It was a factory original completely choking off the airflow.

I said to him, I believe I have found your problem and we proceeded to purchase a new filter. Upon beholding a new filter next to the old he could not believe it. I mentioned that with increased airflow not only would his A/C work to its potential, but in the winter he would get more heat velocity. He promptly offered to buy me blizzard and sang my praises all the way back to the road trip origin.

Moral of the story, when you acquire a used vehicle, check the cabin air filter along with all the other items in the once over.
 
Changed my first ever cabin air filter in 2015 thanks to Bitog (13 yr old car)....after nearly 40 yrs of driving. Who knew?

My 18 year old car doesn't have one....not that it matters much seeing is it's parked inside 99.5% of the time.
 
Good for you helping him!!!
I did the same on my mothers Mitsubishi Outlander at 32k miles and
I was surprised it looked super clean.. Replaced it anyway..
 
my car doesn't have one
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Change mine yearly after spring pollen season.
 
He took the car to a shop and they didn't check it?

At my shop, we ALWAYS check HVAC filter during any inspection/test/diagnosis of the blower OR A/C. Its too easy to check, and it can make a big difference in HVAC performance (as you found out!)

Plus, its an easy sell. Most cars: .2h labor and $15-25 for the filter. (that's what I charge anyway)
 
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Originally Posted By: Bud
Change mine yearly after spring pollen season.


Bingo. The OEM maintenance schedule is too long IMO. I pulled ours out of the Honda after 2 years and it was nasty. What a difference in air quality.
 
Originally Posted By: Linctex
I wonder why the 2000's era F150's never got one?


I wonder why my '99 Taurus never got one, until I "changed" the filter... and found it was missing from the factory.

That car had so many issues, must have been a Monday morning or Friday afternoon car.
 
Ditto on the cabin filter for sure! Everyone's driving conditions are different, mine has not loaded
up but cleaned it and used it again no prob!

I'd like to see a "cold air return" filter to keep inside car dirt and dust
off the A/C evaporator that can easily stick, get wet and lead to smells and mould!

I took a large new scotchbrite pad, cut to shape and fitted it over re-cir intake under the dash
and at the end of the year, it has stuff on it!
 
The 2005 Malibu does not come with cabin air filter,through trial and err i found the 2005 Saturn Ion, Chevy Cobalt and Pontiac G6 fit just fine.To this day when the wife takes the Malibu to the dealer they refuse to install a cabin air filter because GM says they don't make one for her car.
 
Lots to say....old timers won't change their ways.

A thoughtful, macro intelligent, successful man with a 2002 Saab 9-3 for sale used a posh repair shop in his posh neighborhood.

We bought the car and found the original CAF (126K) easily reachable under the plastic cowl.

MAYBE the errant instruction of "remove the wiper arms" scared the mechanics into silence....or they just didn't think that way.
 
Had a neighbor who had taken her SUV in to get the AC serviced because of practically almost no air flow couldn't cool her at all. She got charged by the tech doing a system check only to tell her her system was fine. Drove off and no better. Later took into a shop and they replaced a nasty CAF. All better now except the $$ put out for all this.
Right after the CAF replacement, next day she came over telling me about it - she didn't know about any CAF and wanted to know if there was such a thing. Live & learn
add - sure wished she would have spoke up 1st
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: oilmutt
The 2005 Malibu does not come with cabin air filter,through trial and err i found the 2005 Saturn Ion, Chevy Cobalt and Pontiac G6 fit just fine.To this day when the wife takes the Malibu to the dealer they refuse to install a cabin air filter because GM says they don't make one for her car.


Yep, same with the '05 G6. Just needed to cut out the perforated plastic opening and stuff a filter in.
 
I would like to learn how to change mine, (2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee). I've tried to watch You Tube Videos, but they're dark, and you can't see very well. I'm also afraid of breaking off those little plastic tabs. They make it somewhat of a PITA to replace, and I'd hate to have the dealer rape me for doing it.
 
most cars are a piece of cake, except my employer owned ford escape, that is under the cowl.

The toyotas and hyundais are behind the glovebox, its a two minutes job.
 
Originally Posted By: billt460
I would like to learn how to change mine, (2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee). I've tried to watch You Tube Videos, but they're dark, and you can't see very well. I'm also afraid of breaking off those little plastic tabs. They make it somewhat of a PITA to replace, and I'd hate to have the dealer rape me for doing it.



You can do it. It's a piece of cake.
 
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