Change your Interior Cabin Air Filter...

[artguy]

If you haven't checked or changed your interior cabin filter lately...take the time.

Here is what mine looked like next to the new one...
http://www.captive1.com/mrk/cabin_filter.jpg

I recently bought this car and I don't know if the previous owner, or those before him, even new there was one.

Not in the pict were all the leaves and crap that was in the filter housing with that filthy thing. I'm surprised I got any air through it before! ;)

I can breathe now baby! :D

[Macv]

Every month or so one of these pops up. Good think too, keeps me reminded.

[mamilapon]

Do I have one?

[E34N]

Do I have one?


no. only available on 91+

(what is your production date.. just to make sure.)

[Sam-Son]

wow ok I was looking through bentley and saw this and I was gonna do it a month or so ago but never got around to it. Now I really think I ought to

[repenttokyo]

I bought one 2 months ago and have been trying to work up the courage to install it.

[attack eagle]

easy... takes about 20 minutes or so. See vfaq in the archives.

[repenttokyo]

cool, thanks - i will. i had read somewhere that it was a nightmare to get under the dash in terms of tightness, and that scared me off.

[artguy]

Don't be scared of it, the job is easy...and well worth doing.

It's not so tight actually doing the replacement...it's tight if you want to look where the filter goes. I'm a pretty big guy and I wanted to get a good look at the parts and take some pictures, so I learned to be a contortionist...but it was actually kind of fun learning something new about my car.

You should be able to do the job with a phillips head screw driver and a T15 Torx star head screw driver. There is only one star head screw and it is on the bottom of the plastic cover plate that goes over the filter area which makes it air tight and holds the filter in place.

20 minutes is about right. I took a bit longer because I wanted to photograph things and clean all the parts and nooks and crannys really well.

Just remember not to force anything as you put it all back together. The filter will take some gentle persuasion both ways to get past some parts, but not a big deal.

The hardest part I found was putting my glove box back on. My advice would be to sit in the passenger seat and put both arms under the box as you put it back in. This will support it and allow your hands to be at the back clipping the clips on again. I don't even know what to call these clips but they are pretty ingenious. There is a quick-release lever on the bottom of each one. When pulled toward the seat, it releases the "aligator jaws" that grab around the metal rods behind the glove box. This release also losens the clip so it can slide out of the glove box's slot. You can also adjust the way the glove box closes by releasing these clips and pushing the box in the proper position and then reingaging the quick-release arms. When you see it, this will all make sense...trust me. ;)

[t.wak]

Mine has been ordered for the next service :)

[mamilapon]

Mine is an '89

[leicesterboy15]

I can vouch for the easiness of the job, I did mine a couple of months back and the filter was just as bad. There was hardly any air out of the vents even though the fan was going like the clappers.

Read the FAQ's and get some long head torx drivers similar to the ones below, will make life much easier.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/9pc-OFFSET-SECURITY-TORX-KEY-SET-TAMPERPOOF-TORX-DRIVER_W0QQitemZ120157410201QQihZ002QQcategoryZ680 34QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It might take a couple of hours the first time but I'm sure I could do it in 20 minutes second time around.

[Montreal525]

I took mine out on a Sunday... No dealers open so I just took some K&N filter cleaner stuff and cleaned it... Turned out like new...

Jeff

[ILoveMPower]

I've been having TONS of trouble getting the glovebox off on the M5, it uses some weird ass clip that I can't get off.. I've wasted like 2 hours on this 1 ****in clip before I gave up on fresh air for the day.

Anyone have any ideas/experience?

[JMI]

I have a 1989 535i so it does not have a filter. Does anything need checking like maybe the duct work? Stuff must accumulate somewhere in there.
Also can a makeshift arrangement be done and add a filter?

TIA

[Ferret]

I'm due to do this as soon as I get a new aircon compressor - which the cars now needed for like 4 months :/

[BFEINZIMER]

Yea my 6/90 535 doesent have a filter...I found that out after getting everything removed...oh joy..

So what does filter our air..if anything?

[Ross]

Those clips just pop open as I recall. From the look of it it's not intuitive but my recollection is they pop right open.
Hopefully someone here will explain it a little better or post pics now that it's been brought up.

[Sam-Son]

I dont have an interior air micro filter......
I went to replace it and its not there It seems to have been relocated or something but its just not there
My car is strange
narrow grille on a 95 this micro filter thing and a coupe of other oddities

[BMWCCA1]

I dont have an interior air micro filter......
I went to replace it and its not there It seems to have been relocated or something but its just not there
My car is strange
narrow grille on a 95 this micro filter thing and a coupe of other odditiesU.S. model? What's the production date and VIN?

[cammo]

does a 7/90 525i even have a cabin filter? also being a right hand drive. is it gonna be hard trying to get to it with the pedals in the way?

[Jehu]

it was said earlier in this thread

[Sam-Son]

U.S. model? What's the production date and VIN?
Its a US model alright checked the vin through real oem and nothing out off the ordinary came up
Its a 4/95

[BMWCCA1]

Somebody pulled the old filter out and didn't put a new one in?

Wonder what all happened to your car before you owned it. Got wrecked and didn't get put back together right?Those are the only possible explanations. The filter compartment cover will go back on correctly whether there's an element in there or not. If you can convince me your hood still has the original VIN tag for your chassis number, I'll eat the parts fiche. I've seen the wrong hood/grilles/front panel on a '95, and vice-verse, but never without obvious body work or replacement panels involved. But then I've also seen an E34 with rear doors from another car according to the VIN stickers. In all cases, these were not the original owners with the cars. The grille-swap cars were all at the Manheim Auto Auctions. I know enough not to trust most used-car dealers.

[BMWCCA1]

well is there any filters at all on earlier models?No, and no access to where one would go, either.

[bubba966]

Somebody pulled the old filter out and didn't put a new one in?

Wonder what all happened to your car before you owned it. Got wrecked and didn't get put back together right?

[cammo]

well is there any filters at all on earlier models?