How to's are usually old, they are not written every day.
You replaced a charcoal filter with a cheaper filter, why was that

 

I didn't know any better at the time. I ordered oil filters and a sterring stabilizer from Joel TLC, and decided to through a cabin air filter in. You are that impressed with the carbon block?

 

I am! It sweetens up the smell. You don't smell much pollen and the air seems fresher! I always will put the carbon cabin filters in.

 

+1, we pass a chicken farming operation on the way to the lake house and it would almost bring you to tears for about 2 miles because of the smell. Charcoal filter and windows up, not even a hint of it, even in August

 

That is the whole purpose of a Carbon filter, to eliminate smells, a normal filter, no matter what you do to it, will not counteract smells for any prolonger period. Spraying a normal filter with an odour spray will only last for a small period of time, a carbon filter will operate thoughout it life cycle. Don't be a cheapskate, do the job right. Look after your car, and it will look after you, has always been my motto. If you are not going to do a job properly, why do it at all.

 

 

Looks like not only a new cabin air filter, but a removal of the cowling below the WW and clean out everything you find in there. Also maybe taking out the fan motor/cage and clean as much of the ductwork as you can reach from up top and below through the openings. Good luck!

 

I was in awe when I saw how much crap was in there. I was waiting for a family of squirrels to come out of the glove box.
I plan to go in this weekend and get the whole system thoroughly cleaned out.

 

I hope you mean go in by yourself and not taking it in to a mechanic or dealer...

 

Correct. I'm not paying $80 to have a tech pull leaves.

 

Just replaced mine today. It was the original from build date back in July 2003. It looked brand new. No smell either. A couple specs of leave crumbs but that's it. I'm amazed. It has been garage kept since new and not parked out under any trees etc normally but I still expected more crap and more dirt --- but really nothing. I still replaced it since I was in there and since it's old too. Anyway, the proceedures on the forum, as usual, were very helpful. I do have to say that the screws were indeed phillips head, not Torx. I went and bought a torx set anyway but phillips is what fit and worked.

Good for another 10 years at my rate................ I hope.

 

I think you may find broken glass in the doors too. Guessing the previous owner pissed off his wife or girlfriend, or both.

 

Hey guys thanks a lot, i follow the instructions without any problem...

 

Replaced mine today. It looked to be the stock filter (said mercedes on it) but looked pristine. However, when I removed the blower motor panel that was full of debris.

FYI I bought the filter from needswings, and it did come with good instructions.

 

I replaced mine today with a Denso 454-2036 carbon filter that I got delivered via ebay for $19.46. These are very high quality plastic framed filters made in Germany. Took about 20 minutes. The old one looked dirty and there were a few leave fragements in the compartment. I think places like Advance Auto can special order them also. It got rid of the stale air smell coming out of the ducts. A hand mirror and worklight and a #2 Phillips head screwdriver are all you need to do it. You remove the two screws at the front corners of the panel beneath the dash glove compartment, slide the holders for the access panel inside and remove, and rotate the old filter out and down. Reverse the process to install.

 

Why is it I always seem to have problems with what should be the easy stuff?!

Decided to do the cabin air filter replacement on my SRT-6 today, only to discover I have no protective cover under the passenger side dash. Looks like a previous owner decided it was pointless and left it off of the car.

Well, at least that makes the filter replacement job that much easier, right? Heh.... not so much. I got the old filter out just fine (along with a small pile of leaves and such), and slid in the replacement charcoal filter I bought from Amazon.

Problem is, I can't get the filter cover back on properly! I guess much of the difficulty stems from having to do all of this while I'm lying under it, in an uncomfortable position. But I can't seem to get the sliding plastic catches to slide back over the channels to lock the cover in place! Gave up in frustration for now, before I break something. Will go back out in a few minutes and make another attempt.

 

Assembled from two posts made mach2plus on 01-24-2011

Greetings. I recently purchased an SRT Roadster with 16k miles on it from its original owner, who lives a few miles from me. He had taken excellent care of the car and the only item needing service was the cabin air filter, which was still the factory original. I have replaced many of these on several different vehicles in the past, and I can say from experience that it is typically an easy job, and the SRT proved no different.

I wrote down the procedure in hope that it might help those of you who may not have changed out their cabin air filter in the past, but would like to do the job themselves when the time arises. This SRT procedure may be applicable to other Crossfire variants, but I’m not the one to ask. So perhaps a more knowledgeable forum member might chime in and let us know? And while the procedure may seem to be long and complicated, it really isn't. It's a very simple job! Good luck!

--Recommended Maintenance Interval: B service schedule or every 18,000 miles
--Time: about 25 minutes the first time, probably 10-15 thereafter.
--Tools: medium size Phillips head screwdriver, flashlight, clean damp (water only) rag, medium size paint brush, some towels or a blanket, and a pencil or pen.
--Part: One Purolator C38908 Cabin Air Filter ($30 at Advance Auto Parts), or OEM equivalent. The original from the factory filter which I replaced had the following nomenclature molded onto it (see picture): Mercedes- Benz A210 830 0818; Micron Air, made 10-04, Valco 45584, 539.9877.150
--Cabin Air Filter Location: The filter is located beneath the passenger side dash, just behind the glove box. It's normally hidden from view because it’s covered by a protective under-the-dash cover.


1. Make sure the car is in park and the ignition key set to on. move the passenger seat as far back as possible, and then remove the ignition key.Open the passenger door fully andremove the floor mat. (though my picture shows the mat in place, I later removed it). After removing the mat, go ahead and place your towels or blanket over the seat, the floor, and floor sill. this will not just protect your car, but it will also protect your back, which will be doing some contorting under the dash if you really want to do a first rate job.

2. With phillips head in hand and flashlight at ready, maneuver under the dash and remove the protective under dash cover, which is located directly behind the very bottom of the glove box, and attached by two screws. the 2 screws are located directly behind the glove box hinge, at the far ends of the under dash cover, and slightly recessed into two detents. once removed, the under dash cover will not just simply fall out (it shouldn't if it was installed correctly before), and you'll need to push it slightly towards the firewall about a half-inch until its front lips disengage from the dash (they're interlocked with the dash). the cover will then drop down slightly, but don't go forcing it out just yet. Now, with the cover hanging slightly down in the front, use your flashlight and look at the top of the cover (which is now slightly exposed), and towards the rear center (towards firewall) you'll see a 1 inch plastic lip interlocked with the dash. this lip is used to hold the cover to the dash. Now, just pull the cover towards the seat and that lip should disengage and the cover will fall free. Place the cover and 2 screws aside.

3. Look at the picture you'll see what’s exposed under the dash after the under dash protective cover is removed in step 2. On the right side note a square plastic box cover (which protects a hvac blower motor), and on the left side you'll see a long rectangular cover (the filter is there). You'll need to remove both of these covers to do a first rate job, but only the left cover if you're going to just replace the cabin filter -- your choice. the covers are removed differently: the blower cover by pinching the 2 clips in and then sliding the plastic locks to the side, and the filter cover by simply sliding each of the 2 semi-white clips outward. before removing the blower cover you'll first have to unplug a push on type electrical connector (see picture), which you can remove by simply rocking the plug body (not wires) slowly, end-to-end. this might take a little finesse, depending on how stiff the plug is seated, but it should eventually loosen up and come free. the blower cover (which is flat) might also require a little persuading too, but it will just drop down once loose. The filter cover works the same way, but it has a plastic tongue at one end (which you can't see right now because it's inside the filter housing -- see picture) that is about 3 inches long and which may be stuck to the foam that is glued to the filter and used as a compression gasket, so you may have to ease the cover off by pulling it downward. take note of the filter cover end with the tongue and its orientation relative to the opening for future reference and place both covers aside.

4. Read this entire step before proceeding. This step may require just a little elbow grease on your part, depending on how old your filter is, because what may happen is that the foam that is glued to the filter as a compression gasket often deteriorates and becomes very gummy and sticky, much like glue. If so, the filter may stick to the inside of the housing (versus just falling out), and require you to physically pull it out (with fingers or pliers). Though my SRT has just 16k miles on it, I found the foam on my filter had deteriorated, and was very sticky (I have noticed this on other vehicles too). This deterioration was probably due to age versus miles, but it required my pulling it out with my fingers. Now, a somewhat important part: when the filter breaks free, and before it falls out completely, write something on the front side of the filter for later orientation reference. Please, don't ask -- just do it, ok... Now, completely remove the filter and you will note that it is uniquely shaped (keyed) in a pattern that will physically prevent you from putting it fully back into its housing the wrong way, with one side being rounded and the other side being flat. you can also verify this "keying" by looking inside the filter enclosure, if you're agile enough, where you will note that one side is rounded while the other is flat (see picture). Place the filter aside for future reference.

5. Now, with your paint brush, brush the blower motor compartment and filter compartment clean to your satisfaction. Then, with a damp rag, wipe the inside of filter compartment down, paying particular attention to where the filter foam touches the enclosure housing, as some of the filter foam gunk may still be stuck to it.

6. Examine and clean the 3 covers (under dash protective, filter, blower) with your brush and damp rag.

7. Install the new cabin air filter, noting its unique shape, and how it will only go into the housing one way, if done correctly (round side versus flat side). Use the old one that you wrote on for reference, if necessary.

8. Assuming you removed both the air and blower covers, reinstall both of them opposite of how you removed them, making sure that on the blower cover that you first insert its plastic fingers into their mating slots before closing it up and sliding the locking hinges over, and then fully reseat the electrical connector. Likewise, on the filter cover, note the "tongue end," insert it accordingly (tongue end goes to the right and is closest to the firewall), and slide the plastic bands back over to lock it in place.

9. Now, place the ignition key in, start the engine, and test the installation by turning the air conditioning system on (turning on blower). Once satisfied that nothing is leaking, etc., remove the ignition key.

10. Now, replace the protective under dash cover. Note that the 1 inch wide plastic finger has to be inserted into its slot first, and then mate the other edge (towards seat) into its interlocks, and reinstall the two phillips head screws. Replace floor matt. Congratulations, you're done. Now wasn't that easy...


Notes: After reading the other forum entries regarding replacing the cabin air filter I noted that some folks were worried about placing the cabin air filter back in the wrong way (airflow direction, etc). That said, I was just a little concerned and so I paid particular attention to the cabin air filter orientation as I removed it, and even wrote "front" on it before fully removing it. Well, after I removed it completely I noticed that the cabin air filter design was unique (as mentioned above), or "keyed," so as to prevent it from being installed backwards, so there is really nothing to worry about. Now sure, you can install the filter backwards, but only just somewhat, when you're going to notice that something is wrong and that it just isn’t fitting properly.

Best Regards -- Bob

Whoops, I've tried loading this with the pictures several times now without success, so it looks like I'll have to split it into two parts, narrative and pictures. My apologies for any inconvenience...


July 19, 2011 -- The correct tool, as many have mentioned, is not a phillips head screwdriver. I did, however, use a phillips head to remove mine, because once I was in position under the dash, and having a bad back, I wasn't about to get out and go get my torx set, ha, ha! But when I wrote the narrative I forgot about the screw type (probably back medication and old age related, so give me a freakin break, will ya - ha, ha!) Best regards -- Bob