Car and Truck Air Filters? For those of you accustomed to doing some maintenance on your car, this discussion is of interest to you. You may have heard previously that your car or truck "has an air filter." Actually, it has at least two - and perhaps three or more. However, we are only going to be talking about just one filter: the one that filters the air coming into your automobile passenger cabin from the outside.
 
What Is A Cabin Air Filter?
With exception to perhaps a very few cars or trucks, most modern vehicles come with heat and air-conditioning systems. In most vehicles, air circulates within the passenger cabin, and originates from one of two places: from within the cabin itself, or from the outside environment.
 
How Does It Work?
On most vehicles' air-conditioning control console there is a button depicting a circular icon with an arrow suggesting some kind of cycle. This button stands for "air recirculation." When activated, this control causes the air within your car or truck passenger cabin to recirculate to be reheated or re-cooled.
When the recirculation button is turned off, a vent within your car's ducting system causes air to be drawn from the only other place available: the outside.
Now in order to avoid having the interior of your car or truck become dusty or suck up an accumulation of leaves, bugs, and other unwanted goodies from the outside world, your car's manufacturer has thoughtfully provided the outside intake vent with a filter. Some of these filters do such a good job of separating incoming air from irritants such as dust and pollen, some people seek respite from ambient dirty air by sitting inside their car.
 
Why Does The Cabin Air Filter Need Replacement?
The problem with this filter is that it does its job too well.
By catching nearly every particle - from pollen up to small leaves and twigs - this filter gets clogged within a few months, sometimes even within a few weeks. When this happens, your air conditioning air fan has to work especially hard at drawing air through the now-clogged filter. When this happens, all of that incoming fresh air is drawn through the thick layer of crud that has already been filtered from previous volumes of air.
That fresh air, after coming through a dirty filter, is now not-so-fresh.
The air passing through that soiled filter now poses a possible health threat to those within the passenger cabin. The accumulation of mold, mildew, pollen, dust, and other nasty particles can make for an unhealthy - sometimes hazardous - and often smelly breathing space.
 
Not Replacing It Could Be Dangerous
If you don't change your car or truck cabin air filter, eventually the filter will rot and break apart. This can cause damage to your system's air fan, and may cause it to stop running altogether. If the air fan is not allowed to turn freely and thus move at least some air with which to cool its motor, the motor itself may overheat - thus causing it to either burn out and possibly create an electrical fire.
 
How Often Should You Replace The Filter?
This said, it goes without saying that you should change your cabin air filter regularly. Just how often depends upon several factors.
If you use your air conditioning or heating system all the time, you may need to change your cabin air filter as often as every several months. If you live in a wet and sometimes moldy climate, you may think about changing it even more frequently. In areas that are dry and particularly dusty, you may have to change the cabin air filter just as often. If you operate your car or truck in a place that is somewhat temperate and not too dusty, you might be able to get away with changing the filter only once a year.
 
Save Some Money: Change It Yourself
Let's face it, professional car and truck repair is expensive.
Even if it's simple to do, to have someone else replace your passenger cabin air filter is an invitation to an expensive repair bill. Many mechanics make lots of money within the first hour or two that they work on your vehicle. For something as simple as replacing your cabin air filter - which may take all of ten minutes - you may get charged a minimum labor fee of one hour.
This said, why not just change it yourself?
 
Find Out How
Depending on how you are car or truck is designed, changing the cabin air filter could be easy, or really hard.
If you've never done work like this before, it's best to rally up the support of a friend with some know-how, and preferably who has worked on cars before. Do some Internet searches together to find out the steps for replacing your car or truck cabin air filter. Preferably, you would find some instructions that provide pictures.
If an Internet search doesn't do the job, then you may have to buy or borrow a service manual showing the replacement procedure.
In the absence of any available instructions like this, consult with a friendly automotive mechanic who might be willing to show you the location of your car's cabin air filter. Assuming you had a fresh filter in your hand at the time you asked the mechanic, he might be willing to just show you how to do the replacement. Maybe even for free!
 
Uh... I Haven't Changed Mine Lately!
I recently was doing some unscheduled maintenance on my car, when I inadvertently found the cover that protects my cabin air filter from direct exposure to the outside elements. The cover keeps rain, direct wind, and most airborne debris from striking my car's cabin air filter. As an extra protective measure, my car's cabin air intake is positioned to take up air from underneath my car's hood to further ensure minimal exposure to outside debris.
No matter how well the filter is protected, it will still accumulate dirt and crud over time.
Luckily for you, I can show you what my car's cruddy filter looks like! See the accompanying pictures.
 
Some Tips
Upon pulling your car's old cabin air filter, be careful not to flip it up or turn it over. If it's really old, make certain not to tear it - thus allowing dirt and filter pieces to fall downward into your car or truck air system.
Before inserting the new filter, I bought a can of Lysol and sprayed it liberally into the intake vent while the air system blower was running. By doing this, disinfectant strikes the fan and the ducting within my car's air system, thus killing any resident mold or mildew.
Again, see the accompanying pictures. Change your car's cabin air filter as often as needed - definitely at least once a year. Good luck!