Cabin Air Filter.. Am I missing something?

[ontarian_frog]

You just go to the dealership and they'll spray the vents and filter with some pretty powerful stuff (at least that's what they do here).

Gets rid of the smell and the bacteria usually associated with it.

yeah it kills bacteria and smell, but that dead bacteria and .. neutralized stinky particles are still gona end up in your lungs.. better to change the filter.

i gota change mine too thinking of all that.. what sites do you guys get them from? i don't want to overpay at the dealer.

[mystere485]

I get the musty smell occasionally in my '07 wave.

[khan4rtist]

i only get the heated up heater core smell when i turn it on hot, but it goes away after a few minutes.

[saffs_wheee]

so I have this 05 aveo purchased last week for $8K. it has 20,800 miles on it and it apparently, has the original cabin filter and, it is STANKY! The removal is easy, IF, you do it THIS way: Ok, so you know about having to brutally remove the glove box door like a barbarian, right? So now you're staring at a horizontal piece of light guage steel, being held on with 4 screws, right? So, you remove those screws and the horizontal bar comes off, then, surprise, you have a piece of horizontal plastic! This plastic is there only to hold the dash in shape while it is installed. After that, it has no purpose. So? What I did was take out my left handed sheetmetal shears and cut through the plastic on the right hand side, right next to the attachment steel which is behind the plastic. That is where the 4 screws screw into to hold the horizontal, removable steel bar. Then I used my right hand sheetmetal shears to cut off the plastic on the left hand side, right next to the attachment steel as well. After that, toss the plastic piece as it is no longer needed. From there, you see the vertical little piece of removable plastic where, behind that little door, lies the filter. Just grasp the filter holder and wiggle out the filter. It will now come straight out, as it should.

So being the cheap guy that I am, I tried to save some moola so I vacuumed the filter, then I sprayed Febreeze on it, let it set in the sun to dry, then reinstalled it.... Phhht, waste of time! It still was stanky. Once it has stank in it, that's it, time to toss it! Sooooooo.....

Searched around locally for it... no dice, no one has one, BUT, eveyone can get one! The prices varied $10.00 from the Dealer ($30.00) to Napa ($20.00)... Still too much money for me! (Hell, if I had money, would I have bought an Aveo???) Online i went... found a place that has autoparts as cheap as I have ever seen... http://rockauto.com there, I purchased the Wix brand cabin filter for $13.31, plus shipping of $7.00, so for $20 bucks delivered I have a new stankless filter coming.

Done, any questions, I'll try to help out as much as I can.

[Ron-E-Babe]

or you could have bought it at NAPA for the same price? I don't see the savings, you spent an extra 31 cents to get it online.

[jimig1]

i just bought one from the dealer in town and it was $30. I wanted it before my trip I had the original in from 04 and it was bad. I was thinking about cutting the plastic the runs across and blocks the filter to make it easier to get in and out I think it would be ok there is a metal bar that runs across there and makes it stronger. Well maybe next time I'll do it.

[saffs_wheee]

Received the cabin filter, replaced it in 2 minutes...

It took a few days to absorb whatever stank was left in the vehicle... don't know why. May be the air conditioner. Wonder if using dry Arm & Hammer on the filter periodically, as a dry wash (on the incoming side only) , would keep the filter fresher?

[kirbycope]

My vents have always smelled a little foul.

[Monzaveo]

Just to let any SVM owners know...you DO have this filter.

I checked mine after looking at the pic on page 1 and I was pleasantly surprised.

I got 2 filters in a deal from Jim, who wrecked his Aveo and sold me some extra new parts he had (thanks Jim!!!) Before I went and resold the filters I did one final check and I was like wow I do have one!!
I'd been looking at the wrong places.

Mine already had the plastic cut, all I had to do was remove the glove box door, and the metal bar.

There's a little connector for the airbag thats slightly in the way, but otherwise it was cake getting the filters in and out.

My old filter appeared to be the original and it had collected a golfball sized wad of dust and debris, between all the pleats.

So Yeah, SVM's have a replaceable filter too.

And thats another knock against my idiot dealership that told me my car didnt have the filter.