I guess im more OCD than I thought. I have 16k and have had it changed twice. But I just leave them on the seat when I take it in for LOFs and the dealer throws them in.
After reading all the helpful tips here, I finally decided to do mine. I went with a WIX from O'Reilly. Prior to squeezing the clips and removing the little door, there was a TORX type screw at the bottom to remove. Once removed, I threw that away like the guy at the dealer would (never to be used again).
I pretty much wadded up the new one and squeezed it back into the slot. It popped back into a nice square shape fairly easily. The old one was pretty black from 21,000 miles of "fresh" Atlanta interstate air.
This is what happens after 40k without changing it. I just realized I should have taken a picture of the other side (direction of air flow)... but you get the picture.
Yeah, now that I've done this once at just under 21K miles I will probably replace about every 20K going forward. Once you figure out how to do it the job isn't so hard. Took me about 5-10 minutes the first time but I think I should be able to do it in a couple minutes the next time.
I don't believe that the reason these filters turn black is due only to dirt. There is active charcoal in these, and after time and exposure to humidity, that charcoal stains the white filter media. I think the real story of how dirty the filter is told by the dirt trapped in the pleats, not the overall color of the filter.
Your engine/intake air filter "breathes" the same air these filters do, and they don't turn black. Why? no active charcoal.
If they had charcoal though, they would be black from Day 1, right?
They all look way too nasty, I agree 100% that there is something going on. I hope the A/C (and/or rain) is not getting them wet and causing mold to grow!!!!
I wonder if aftermarket filters will all turn nasty, (assuming that not all have "charcoal" in them), and in Canada where they do not use A/C as often.
BTW, always turn off your A/C a few minutes/miles before getting home, and keep the fan running (set to a fairly high speed) to warm up and then dry the various airways so humidity doesn't condense in there and get moldy. When you first turn the A/C off, the passageways are very cool, and the warm humid incoming air will probably condense, so the longer the fan is on (w/o AC) the better.
I just got mine from amazon (picked it up in the US), I will install it tonight...
I went to 4 different motorcraft/ford dealers in two different cities in Mexico without any luck (also they wanted to charge double and special order it).. I will let you know how it turns out... I have 40,000 kms in my FoFo [wrenchin]
I just replaced my filter, it was totally worth it...
I got used to my A/C performance and honestly I didn't expect that this would make such a difference in air output and quality
This is what the filter looks like after 41,000 km (dusty roads and foundry environment):
The new one:
And the magical moment I could finally squeeze that sucker in [wiggle]
I had mine replaced at 30K/1 year when it was was in for an oil change and tire rotation. It was was $24 for for the filter and about the same to install...it was already there so convience won. I figure change once a year as much as I drive.
I like your tag line "If it's not grown, it's mined!" I was a salesman for a short period of time for a services company (crusher repairs, electric motors, etc...) and when I realized all the different things that the mines provide for the products we all use, I was blown away.
Hey guys here is a real simple video some guy put together that shows how to replace the cabin filter without removing any additional parts i.e. Fuse box.
I took mine out in less than 2 minutes and replaced in 5. So it helped a ton. Holly cow my filter was so dirty!!! I made a huge difference with airflow into the car.[woot]
Hey guys here is a real simple video some guy put together that shows how to replace the cabin filter without removing any additional parts i.e. Fuse box.
I took mine out in less than 2 minutes and replaced in 5. So it helped a ton. Holly cow my filter was so dirty!!! I made a huge difference with airflow into the car.[woot]
Yeah, that's the video I watched to learn the best way to do it. You feel a little weird squeezing the middle but it works real well. It took me about the same time as you when I did mine at 21K miles. I'll do the next one at about 40K as 20K/filter seems about right for my conditions...
So I have had this car a little over a year now and last year I noticed that the warmer that it got (gotta love central TX in the summer), this musty smell would also increase and vice versa during the winter. Now that it's warming up again I decided that I should change the filter. The horror! [vommit] I don't think the filter has been changed in the entire 47k that this car has had put on. Needless to say I'm getting a new filter today. There were also some leaf parts in there. Where does the ac take outside air from?
I can't wait to try this. The entire time I've owned my Focus, one of my few complaints has been that the HVAC system doesn't seem to move a lot of air, regardless of the fan speed setting. It just seems to increase the amount of noise coming out of the dash rather than the amount of air out of the vents.
My car has almost 90k on it, and as it was a company car, I'm guessing it has never been changed unless the servicing dealer took care of it. I've never owned anything new enough to have a cabin filter, so I didn't even realize it might be there. And to think I suffered all winter with heat that never seemed to warm the car up until I'd been driving for 30+ minutes. I'm guessing this is the reason why.
Finally had a chance to replace the filter on my Focus. What a difference between old and new. I think only the guy with the dusty road/foundry environment had a darker filter, but mine also had a ton of debris trapped in the pleats. Leaves, seeds, insect parts, you name it.
HVAC system seems to move a lot more air now, and although I hadn't noticed it, there was a slight musty odor that is gone now.
Best of all, filter removal was a lot easier than I expected after watching that YouTube video. I think I spent more time trying to get the cover back on than I did changing the filter, and that was only because I was trying to put it on backwards for some reason.
Just watched the entire Youtube video and purchased the cabin air filter from Amazon for $15 bucks. The swap took literally 5 minutes for me to do! Bravo to the author of the video. My dealership wanted to charge me $179 to change the cabin air filter, air filter, fuel filter and oil change. Really?
I had to pay well over $500 for a fuel pump replacement in my old truck, plus when they dropped the tank they spilled half of the fuel all over the floor.
There is an old mechanic's trick that will sometimes get an in tank fuel pump working again. I had a Jeep Grand Cherokee that I had not driven in a while and the electric pump was stuck and inoperative. A couple of blows to the fuel tank with a rubber mallet and the pump started singing. Never failed again. I thought I was going to have to drop the tank so I got lucky.
Some cars have access ports under the back seat to get at the in tank pump without having to drop the tank. We are not so lucky with the MK3 so yes, it is an expensive repair.
I would like to see the look on the service writer's face when you ask him if they installed your new fuel filter as part of the $179 special and then show him a picture of the in tank fuel pump with integrated fuel filter...
"Do you need to keep my car a little longer to complete the rest of the work you advertised in your special?"
I replaced my cabin air filter yesterday with a Carquest brand filter. Still mystified as to why it's located in such an awkward place. It was easier to changed in my old Elantra.
I'll have to change the one on my mother's 2012 Nissan Rogue soon. Apparently, it's in a similar location to the Focus, but this time, it's on the driver's side.
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