DIY Cabin Air Filter

[mikenacarato]

i took my oem filter into walmart and found one that was close. i had to trim it down length wise by a half inch and it fit like a glove.

[lablancjc]

Awesome diy my wife had some high pitched buzzing noise the dealer said it was a piece of paper in teh blower motor and they were going to charge her 115 bucks to take it out. I said hell no read this post it took less than 5 minutes to disassemble take napkin out and reassemble. 115 dollars what a rip off. Thank for the diy you just saved me 115 bucks!!!!!

[Lafiro]

I own the 2007 sedan, and I don't think the cabon air filter comes with the car.

If I follow this DIY will the location of the air filter be in the same place?
Thanks.

[BLH]

My 2007 users manual said if it was installed. A sticker would be attached to the inside of the Glove Compartment Door.

Mine had no sticker.

I believe the compartment is there to accept it. It was just not installed at the factory. Will know tomorrow when I try to install the one I have on order.
Local parts store was out of it.

[YarisSedan]

I think this mod would hinder the air flow slightly. If you ever look at a oem cabin air filter it has arrows that has to be installed a certain way. The way its designed to allow maximum air flow. If you take a filter thats not designed to be a cabin air filter it wont have the same type of flow rate.

[BailOut]

Originally Posted by YarisSedan

I think this mod would hinder the air flow slightly. If you ever look at a oem cabin air filter it has arrows that has to be installed a certain way. The way its designed to allow maximum air flow. If you take a filter thats not designed to be a cabin air filter it wont have the same type of flow rate.

Any filtration hinders flow to a certain degree, but your assumptions rely wholly on the assumption that a home blower filter restricts more than a car blower filter designed by some 3rd party to absolutely no one's specifications but their own. Your assumptions also assume that the direction of flow really matters, which it often does not (arrows are often put on there just to keep folks from asking questions, and the one that I used in the photographs is identical top and bottom).

The experience of myself and others that have done this DIY shows that it works just fine. I've been using my own filters for a year and a half now.

[1stToyota]

Originally Posted by BailOut

Any filtration hinders flow to a certain degree, but your assumptions rely wholly on the assumption that a home blower filter restricts more than a car blower filter designed by some 3rd party to absolutely no one's specifications but their own. Your assumptions also assume that the direction of flow really matters, which it often does not (arrows are often put on there just to keep folks from asking questions, and the one that I used in the photographs is identical top and bottom).

The experience of myself and others that have done this DIY shows that it works just fine. I've been using my own filters for a year and a half now.

Maybe the assumption is based upon store bought cabin filters being 100% filter (surface area) and DIY filters are bordered with cardboard and tape that migrates upon the filter surface area? Air won't flow through cardboard and tape.

[talnlnky]

Originally Posted by YarisSedan

I think this mod would hinder the air flow slightly. If you ever look at a oem cabin air filter it has arrows that has to be installed a certain way. The way its designed to allow maximum air flow. If you take a filter thats not designed to be a cabin air filter it wont have the same type of flow rate.

yeah.... who cares.... humans can't tell the difference... i've got one year of experience with this type of DIY filter.

Also... this would ONLY be a problem if you drive around with your air on MAX all the time and still felt you needed a stronger fan in your car.


All who drive around town with the fan on max all the time please raise your hand.
...


thought so.

[RomGrr]

Originally Posted by talnlnky

yeah.... who cares.... humans can't tell the difference... i've got one year of experience with this type of DIY filter.

Also... this would ONLY be a problem if you drive around with your air on MAX all the time and still felt you needed a stronger fan in your car.


All who drive around town with the fan on max all the time please raise your hand.
...


thought so.

:::raises hand:::

We've had 105-110 heat index here the past few weeks. If the car had a moonroof I'd probably attempt to ring a home window unit up to it

I'm a little confused...this filters the air being sucked into the air conditioner, or the air being blown into the cabin? And how would changing the A/C settings affect this (i.e. setting to recirculating)? The filter seems vital to a long lasting and efficient A/C system. How can this not be included with the car?

[Astroman]

I had mine out for a while (made new ones), and had a musty smell when using the AC. Now that I have a new filter in, the smell is gone.

[PatrickJohnson]

the filter is post-ac, it only filters the air coming out of the blower of the ac unit. as such, the unit's operation is unaffected by leaving it out, it just means that whatever allergens/dust your external ac air intake suck in will end up in some amount inside your cabin. with the filter in place, the dust that makes it to your cabin is greatly reduced, and with an allergen rated filter you can cut down on pollen and the like. helps allergies while driving.

[BailOut]

^ ^ Good point. However, as has been said, there have been no complaints in 18 months. It just works.

[ozmdd]

Home air filters are also labeled for direction of flow. The AF rate should not be hindered to any meaningful degree. Probably less resistance than an OEM filter.

[1stToyota]

I don't know this system, but flow problems with cabin air filters can sure ruin a blower motor resistor that isn't able to cool itself properly.

[YarisSedan]

The filter that you are using are designed for a very high powered fan that cools your entire house. Not a ity bitty fan that sucks just a little air. If you look at the blow motor it is really a tiny fan. I am all about DIY but i belive there is a noticible difference. I think no one really has noticed because the people doing this DIY dont have a filter to begin with so there is nothing really to compare to. Plus as stated before there is less surface area for the air to go through. You are putting a restriction against the blower motor when you are doing this. I dont honestly think there is a world of a difference and it wont cause catastofic failure of your blower motor circuit. But just stating there is a difference.

The cabin air filter is designed for maximum filtration without sacrificing air flow. If you get a really good quality cabin air filter they can last about 25k miles. I mean really is it worth all the time and hassle to go to the store buy the filters cut them up and then duct tape them together and have to replace them more frequently to save over the course of a 100k miles and if you dont drive that much its maybe 10 years the most a hundred dollars.

Because of the different type of filter they are going to become more restrictive when they are dirty than the cabin air filter will get when they are dirty.

[talnlnky]

i'd rather have cleaner air than more air.... the DIY way means you have the chance for better quality filter media. 3M Filtrete right here.

[1stToyota]

Originally Posted by talnlnky

i'd rather have cleaner air than more air.... the DIY way means you have the chance for better quality filter media. 3M Filtrete right here.

You won't get much better than OEM or WIX for quality filtering, and if you do then you can almost assure yourself that airflow, blower motor and resistor will suffer as the result.

[BailOut]

Originally Posted by 1stToyota

You won't get much better than OEM or WIX for quality filtering, and if you do then you can almost assure yourself that airflow, blower motor and resistor will suffer as the result.

Those are fairly broad statements without anything to support them. I do not recall ever seeing an OEM or Wix filter that was allergen rated but the 3M home filter I used in this DIY is. 18 months of usage without an issue shows that it doesn't hurt any part of the ventilation system.

Before the hack there were over 30 posts in this thread from folks that had done this DIY and were happy with it. I understand that some people prefer a custom made filter but that is no reason to malign a proven DIY version of it with fabrications and alarmism.