I went down to the local ACE Hardware here in town, and I found a nice Central Air conditioning filter with charcoal for only $3.99!!! :D It measures 20x25, and I was able to cut 6 perfectly fitting filters from it!!! I'm all set for the next year with filters changing them every three to four months :D

After driving around all day with the new filter installed, I can honestly say the air smells cleaner, blows colder, and there was no loss of air flow at all that I've noticed :D

I think everyone should do this...I think all cars should have a cabin filter for their air conditioning units :D

Thank you again for the detailed instructions and pics, they helped me out a lot for this, and it really did take about ten minutes total to do it :D

DAN

 

I just went to my dealer and bought one for my car.. it was 18 dollars.... well worth the money spent

 

Hey thats cool to hear...I honestly wish eveyrone of the Scions came with them though...But why spend 18 dollars when you can do it for under 5 bucks total though??? :D It was kinda fun to make too :D But hey man I'm not hating at all, it's cool to hear you got one though...All box's should hav ethem installed :D


DAN

 

I've replaced it three times since - each time it's been pretty dirty. I want to find a fileter with charcoal for my next replacement.

 

NP

 

I saw a cut to fit furnace filter with a charcoal layer in WalMart yesterday when I was hunting for a filter to cut up for my new xA. Priced about $8.50 I think. I did not get the one with the charcoal area as it seemed to be thicker construction and I thought it might be too restrictive for the car. It was more impressive than the corrugated filters with the very thin filter material. Of course the corrugated filters provide more filtering area.

 

Is cabin filter same as air filter? I don't see any air filter insturction on the user manual.

 

No, the two are not the same. The cabin filter is inside the passenger compartment (cabin) and it is used in the air conditioning system. The air filter is inside the engine compartment and filters the air going into the engine. The air filter is necessary, the cabin filter is not.

 

Thanks.....

I bought a air filter yesterday and open the engine compartment and couldn't locate my xA air filter. Do you know what I can find it?

 

What is the purpose of the air cabin filter? Why do we need it if it was not installed in the first place?

 

It should be in the right side of the engine compartment. It will look like a tube going into a box with another tube coming out of the other end of the box if you have the stock intake. If you have an aftermarket intake, it will vary where it is.

 

The cabin filter does the same thing as the filter to your home air conditioning unit; it catches debris in the air so that it is not circulated through your house/cabin. You don't need it, but it definitely doesn't hurt to have, especially if you have allergies. It probably wasn't installed in the first place because they were cutting corners.

 

Thanks for bringing back this thread. Will replace filter very soon.

 

I have pics of the old filter I removed from my xB after 3 months. You'd be surprised....

If you guys want to see pics, let me know and I'll try to get them up.

 

WIX Filters makes cabin air filters for our Scions

xA and xB P/N: 24900

As far as it's contents it looks like it doesn't have a carbon layer.

Just FYI...

EDIT: Oops, I guess they do have a carbon layer...

 

Well, I did the mod and I love it. Thanks for all the info guys.

 

Just made my filter last night. Works great! No more funky smells when I drive through the bad part of town!

 

Im really glad ur able to make your own. I noticed a weird smell coming from my air conditioner.kinda like a water smell or something. and i brought it in and wanted to know what it was or why my air conditioner was smelling that way, and the guy told me that i needed a cabin air filter and it wasnt part of warranty and i asked how much a new one was and he said 69 bucks. and now i see on here that some people got them for 18. was this dude like trying to rip me off or something? lol it seriously makes me wonder about toyota. anyways. i am definently going to try this. thanks for posting it! Jessica

 

I'm resurrecting this thread just to say.. the air actually flows from top to bottom through the filter. This can easily be seen by which side the dirt and particles are on in the filter.

Alternately you could turn on the fan and hold a feather or something light in the cabin filter space to see which way it goes (it gets pulled down).

FYI, underneath the cabin air filter box is a blower (like the computer exhaust fan type).

so in case that's still not clear enough... it means that the carbon filter should go on the bottom of the cabin filter tray, and the particle filter element on top of that.

 

I made mine yesterday...i really smell the difference when driving behind a bigass truck that spills out hella smoke through their muffler. I think it also helps a little when I drive past roadkill. There is a dead skunk by the road that I drive past everyday, it's probably been dead for a couple days, and now that I have the air filter, I don't smell the skunk anymore.