Hey, that cabin filter is just mildly soiled. It doesn't count till you get dead mice there.

http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f88/forester-2005-cabin-filter-80846/#post899981​

 

lol

:Banane35:

 

My brother has a 2004 Chrysler Pacifica and around Christmas time I asked him about the cabin air filter in his car, to which he replied that he didn't know if it even had one. We went out and I pulled the most dirty and leaf-covered filter I've ever seen from under his dash. I had to shop-vac the filter box, and then sucked the heck out of the filter to put back in until he got a replacement.

No dead mice, fortunately.

 

engine air filter looks barely dirty.. not in need of replacement

the cabin air filter was gray because of charcoal.
I probably would have vacuumed and inspected it.. before replacing.
but I'm cheap.

lightly dirty air filter actually filters better than new.

 

Having changed hundreds of them; agree on the eng air filter; disagree on the Cabin filter. that is plugged; see this a lot.

 

Do I win the nastiest filter contest?

These were after 30,000 miles and 3 ski seasons :raspberry:

 

Slightly worse than mines but not as bad as some I've seen. :banghead:


Don't think this car had seen a change in its life.

Sent from my SCH-I535

 

I change the cabin air filter all the time on both of our cars, because my wife gets bad allergies, and being in Central California, with tons of fruit and nut trees around, we get a ton of pollen almost all year round. I once left one in there for about 10 months and the thing was yellow and black. It was nasty.

 

I'm glad I do not have allergic reactions to the nasty filters. But I do know how nasty the fresno / central California can get with air quality. Lived there for 5 years.

Sent from my SCH-I535

 

The dealer would like to change your cabin filter on schedule because the dealer makes a lot of profit on an easy job. I checked my filter after 15K miles. It showed some dirt, not much. I vacuumed the loose stuff off and put it back. I'll check again in another 15K miles.

 

True that. The last time I had a civic they said it'll cost $120 to change both. Both parts ran less than $40 and was even easier to change out than my forester. This time was around $35 and > 15 min.

Sent from my SCH-I535

 

Man the dealer I use for warranty work would be all over this thread. If they had their way, they'd change cabin filters every 3,000miles, at an astonishing $70 a pop.

 

Did a bunch of cleaning today and removed mine from my 03. Looks disgusting.. I'm sure this looks pretty typical, I just can't get over how full it is and how bad it made the car smell from the PO smoking so much.

 

Yea that looks nasty just like mine.

Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App

 

have had the Subie for a week now and thought I would see what the previous owner's 85k miles did to the cabin air filter. Maybe they changed it - I dont know. So it ended up being the nastiest dog hair filled filter Ive ever seen. enjoy the pic as I enjoy the airflow!

 

Yikes...:icon_eek::shake:

 

oooh yeah, that's really full!! I bet it looks worse in person than in the picture. That's how mine was to me. Pics just don't do it justice.

 

My turn! My turn!

I bought my '04 about 2 years ago with 94k on the odometer. It has 122k now. I don't know the last time it was swapped, but I'm sure as hell going to do it more regularly now. Ick!!!!!!

(Picked the new one up -- a TYC -- from RockAuto for about $10.)

 

Change your cabin air filter!

As we all know, some of our cars were neglected back in the factory and did not receive cabin air filters. I know on the SF model it was an option. Well I decided to replace mine. So let me show you why you should absolutely change your cabin air filter.
On the left you see what I was breathing in. On the right is a brand new filter. My car only has 73000 miles on it. Let that sink in for a moment....

As you can see, a rat nest was found, which is far more common than it should be. So word of the wise, change your cabin air filter!!

 

My car only has 73000 miles on it. Let that sink in for a moment....

well, normally it is to be changed every 10-20k...you might also clean your A/C properly...

 

Dude, that's gross. I change mine every other oil change.

 

Mother of God that's nasty. I will be changing mine tomorrow.

 

Yuck. Any instructions how?

 

Tasty. Seems typical for neglected filters. ... Check the link below.

http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f115/2005-subaru-xt-la-baca-199578/index15.html#post2749162

 

The reason I pointed out my mileage is because I know guys that never changed theirs and they are at 100k+. I can't even imagine how their's looks. The previous owner didn't exactly take care of this car either. Left me with gunky, old oil, pretty dirty filters all the way around, missing pieces in the cabin, etc... I've only had it for about 3000 miles and didn't know about the cabin air filter's potential troubles till recently. I may have to do that A/C cleaner. Mine has always been kind of weak on "3" and "4".

 

has the air flow seemed normal?
I suggested giving the whole A/C a good once over because if the filter has not been changed the evaporator and air ducts have not been serviced either...you can buy this foam type cleaner for the evaporator (either goes through the drain or through the blower unit) and also spray type for ducts- 30 min long job all in...Subaru sells this and also this is a good product http://www.1z-usa.com/Klima-Cleaner-Professional-Application.html

 

Ran across this thread last week, and didn't even realize I had a cabin air filter (most of the cars I've owned up to this point have not had them). Ordered a new cabin air filter off Amazon and replaced it this evening. Our Forester just turned 90k miles, and it had never been changed. Looked nearly identical to the filter in the OP, twigs, leaves, and all. Ended up breaking the glove box in the process, but was able to fix it with stuff I had around the shop.

 

I claim the record with two dead mice, but I'm open to a challenge.

http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f88/forester-2005-cabin-filter-80846/#post899981

 

no pictures but we changed a filters where the mouse ate thru the filter, dead mice in the fan assy.. One car required a new duct assy for the mouse ate the blend door..

 

Check your cabin air filter.

Holy moly! This is a 2 minute fix and even OEM can be had under $20. Was really surprised to see how quickly this thing got filthy.