Cabin Microfilter Maintenance

[JRP3]

I vacuumed out my RAV4 filter many times before it finally started falling apart.

 

[TickTock]

The filter is behind an oval cover and is bigger than the opening. Once the cover is removed, there is a tab on the filter you pull which causes the filter to compress in on itself and squeeze through the opening. I hit mine with the air gun a month ago - was pretty clean to start with, though.

 

[garygid]

Has anybody managed to develop a technique to change
the LEAF's Cabin Air Filter without removing the glove box?

 

[TEG]

It is possible, but you have to contort the filter so much that a dirty one is likely to release crud in behind the glove box as you bend it to twist it out through the hole. Also, I scraped up my wrist while squeezing my hand through the hole to get it out. Not an easy job.

 

[garygid]

So, maybe a mod to the glove box to make a larger (round) hole
on the left side (with a new hole-cover) would do the job?

What diameter hole would make the filter replacement "easy"?

Should the hole be centered on the original hatch, or moved (where)?

 

[TEG]

The filter expands as you pull it out. Also it wants to come out behind the glovebox so you have to bend and twist it to get it to come out of the hole that is on the left side. I am not looking at the car now, so this would be from memory, but an access port on the back of the glove box seems like it would be helpful compared to the current location. If the access door was L-shaped and let you reach through the entire back left corner of the globe box it would make it an easier job.

Not sure this "problem" is worth a bunch of re-engineering effort, though.

 

[rawhog]

Really. Just pull the damn glove box. Sheesh. It's not like you need to do it every month.

 

[leeeh2]

Has anybody managed to develop a technique to change
the LEAF's Cabin Air Filter without removing the glove box?

Everyone's description was great, but I was to lazy to pull the glove box. I pulled the left access port out in the glove box and could see the white oval in the back. I tied a piece of twine into a loop. I put the loop around the bottom tab and pulled out. The white oval cover piece came out easily. Be careful not to drop the oval piece. Then I pulled the filter tab, which was on the top, until the filter accordioned closed. Then to get it out of the opening I pretty much just balled it into my hand and forced it around, so it would go out the opening. I figured if I didn't let the filter pop open, I wouldn't get to much junk in the back of the glove compartment. I squeezed the new filter into place. Putting the oval cover was easier than I thought. I just had to put it over the opening and the top and bottom snapped in. I actually got the bottom to snap in before the top, which was seemed backwards but worked.

At 12 months and 15,000 miles, it definitely needed the change and was pretty gross.

 

[Volusiano]

I just changed mine tonight. I wanted to try removing it first without pulling the glove box to see if I'd succeed or not. I figured if they designed in the access port, that means that it should be doable without pulling the glove box. Well, I managed to get it done without pulling the glove box, but like the others said, it's not easy although it's doable.

Some tips:

1. A smaller hand would help make it much more easy. My hand is not very big so it helped. If you have big hands, maybe ask your wife or kid to help out.
2. It's very hard to pry off the bottom latch/tab of the white plastic cover just using your finger because you can't even get your finger in there. Find a small wire or string and form a loop around the bottom tab then gently try to pull it down and out. It'll help make it come off more easily. Don't pull so hard because you don't want to break that tab.
3. That little fabric tab along side and attached to the filter is to help you squeeze that side down so you can pull it out. My original filter is positioned such that this tab is on top, so I used it to pull downward.
4. My original filter also has some labelling next to that tab to indicate the direction of air flow (upward pointing arrow). My replacement filter doesn't have any marking. But it does have a tab. So I just inserted it such that the tab is in the same position as before so I know that I placed it properly for the next removal.
5. Before replacing the white plastic lid, I followed the suggestion in one of the posts and installed a little wire on the bottom tab of the plastic lid so I can just tug on it next time to remove the lid much more easily.

In retrospect, I think it was worth it to try to do it without pulling the glove box. If you try and can't, you'll only lose a little bit of time and you can still pull the glove box out as part of plan B, no big deal. But if you try and get successful, you save the time and trouble having to take out and put back on the glove box.

The whole thing is still worthwhile to save the $70 that Nissan dealers want to charge you for it.

My original filter came out dirty enough after 1 year and 17.5K miles that it was worth being replaced. I don't think it was worth trying to air blow or wash the old filter for reuse. But maybe if yours is not as dirty and you don't have a new one handy, it may be worth the trouble to clean for reuse.

I read instruction from another cabin air filter that if you want to clean it with an air blower, blow it from the clean side out so that the dirt will be forced away from the dirty side. Otherwise, if you blow it from the dirty side, it may blow away large particles, but it'll embed or blow the smaller particles further into the filter if not out to the clean side, which you don't want.

 

[Randy]

Finally got around to replacing the filter with a Wix 24012 this afternoon...

Definitely use the instructions in the MNL Wiki, and removing the glove box made the job a whole lot easier....

Here's a photo that shows what the old filter looked like with 18 months worth of spuzz....

Randy

 

[gasmiser1]

Finally changed our filter this weekend.

At 22,500 miles, it needed changing for sure. But it wasn't as dirty as the previous poster's filter. We keep the car in the garage at night, so no tree residue falls down into the venting system.

I didn't pull the glove box out. Access to the filter was through the bottom removable snap-in panel under the dashboard. I took out the side glove box access panel for flashlight illumination.

Entire procedure takes around 15-20 minutes to remove and replace.

 

[shay]

I replaced my filter yesterday. Thank you for the instructions in the wiki. It is kind of a pain to get to. My filter was not dirty. I went ahead and replaced the filter since I had gone to the trouble.

 

[EricBayArea]

FWIW, autopartswarehouse.com has filters for $11.95.

-No tax unless you live in KY
-10% off with coupon code APWCART00
-Free shipping if your order subtotal is $50 (before discount). I ordered 2 filters for my 2 cars and saved $11.50 on shipping.

 

[Randy]

Rock Auto has them for $4.77, but no indication of quality or filtration....

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1447777,parttype,6832" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[EricBayArea]

Rock Auto has them for $4.77, but no indication of quality or filtration....

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1447777,parttype,6832" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nice, thanks. I'm not too concerned about air filter quality. Not like I'm driving through a paint thinner factory As long as it captures the pollen, dust, etc., I'm happy.

 

[planet4ever]

I'm not too concerned about air filter quality. Not like I'm driving through a paint thinner factory As long as it captures the pollen, dust, etc., I'm happy.

The service manual says the Nissan filter is good down to 0.3 microns, but admits that its performance falls off below 5 microns. Cheap replacements might or might not do nearly that well. The manual has a graph showing pollen as about 6 microns or larger, so their filter should take care of that. If you care about pollen you may want to find what the pore size is for a cheap replacement. That same graph shows dust particles down to about 0.5 microns, so even the Nissan filter won't get all the dust. Another contaminant to think about is bacteria, which Wikipedia says are typically 0.5 to 5 microns, putting them right on the edge between a very good microfilter (which might get most bacteria) and a cheap one (that might let most go right through).

Personally I'm more interested in quality than in saving a few dollars when it comes to microfilters.

Ray

 

[mark13]

I bought 5 filters from Rock auto..I wonder if ill have any battery capacity left by the time I get to filter #5..

 

[QueenBee]

Personally I'm more interested in quality than in saving a few dollars when it comes to microfilters.

Same here but unfortunately I wasn't impressed with the technical specs of any of them (lack of information)

 

[ztanos]

I'm not too concerned about air filter quality. Not like I'm driving through a paint thinner factory As long as it captures the pollen, dust, etc., I'm happy.

The service manual says the Nissan filter is good down to 0.3 microns, but admits that its performance falls off below 5 microns. Cheap replacements might or might not do nearly that well. The manual has a graph showing pollen as about 6 microns or larger, so their filter should take care of that. If you care about pollen you may want to find what the pore size is for a cheap replacement. That same graph shows dust particles down to about 0.5 microns, so even the Nissan filter won't get all the dust. Another contaminant to think about is bacteria, which Wikipedia says are typically 0.5 to 5 microns, putting them right on the edge between a very good microfilter (which might get most bacteria) and a cheap one (that might let most go right through).

Personally I'm more interested in quality than in saving a few dollars when it comes to microfilters.

Ray

My Saturn has no internal filter, so how much dust and pollen and bacteria have I inhaled over the last 12 years? :lol: My immune system won't know what to do.

 

[QueenBee]

My Saturn has no internal filter, so how much dust and pollen and bacteria have I inhaled over the last 12 years? :lol: My immune system won't know what to do.

It must not have AC?