HOW TO: Replace Cabin Air Filter

[Google]

What would happen if you just took them out and left them out? Cars didn't used to have cabin air filters. Would leaving them out hurt anything in the HVAC system?

04 and 05s didnt come with the cabin filter. the ahole dealer went in and put one in any ways during my service one time. so i kept up with it.
the cabin filter will help with filtering the inside air or is it the outside? i can't remember which now. (dunno)

 

[dan1101]

Finally changed my filters. Big PITA for sure. Took about 1.5 hours and some scraped knuckles. I had the hardest time maneuvering the fuse bracket/panel out of the way and getting to that fourth screw in the upper right corner of the filter cover. It's pretty much as far up in the corner of the foam insulation as you can get. I actually had to take a picture with my cell phone camera so I could see where the screw was.

On the plus side, my car had been smelling musty and the old filters were black with what looked like mildew. Maybe I need to run the AC more to dehumidify the air.

 

[davegutz]

I leave msp3 in "auto" mode which keeps the a/c available all the time and runs it frequently. No musty. My old Saturn got musty and I would spray the a/c air intake under the wipers with Lysol while running it at each oil change and that seemed to solve it.

 

[dan1101]

Yeah I don't run the AC much at all, trying to save gas. I will try to run it more now. Been running Auto since changing the filter to get rid of lingering odor, don't think it ever turns the AC off.