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How-to: Replace In-cabin Micro Filter - PBR

131K views 349 replies 221 participants last post by  N.Fl.X 
#1 ·
I searched several forums for How to on this. One forum someone said, Man this is such a Bitch! I was like screw it, let the dealer do it. Then I saw Dealer wants $79 to remove and install. I got filters from YourNissanParts.com for CHEAP! (Like $25) and did it myself with B Slaters PM'ed instructions.... in 30 seconds or less. $ave yourself the cash, DIY, the dealers should be ashamed for charging so much.

There are two filters that come in one pack, they are split so that they can fit into small hole. MC

B Slater PM'ed,
Ok this I can explain, because it isn't too bad.
1. Open the lower glove box.
2. Squeeze the sides of the lower glovebox until the pins pop out of the guides and keep rotating the glove box down. (It took more force than I figured it would to push in the sides of the glovebox.)
3. Once the glovebox is rotated out of the way (Which you probably have noticed everything in the lower glovebox is now on the floor) you can see where the cabin air filters are.
4. The filters are located almost on top of the blower motor near the passenger front side.
5. You will see a screw that looks like it holds a cover on which needs to be removed (Mine didn't have the screw in there for some odd reason)
6. You push on the tab to the right of where the screw was and the access door should come off. Then you will see the 2 filters in there. 1 filter is hidden off to the right but there is 2 in there. Remove and install with Airflow arrows DOWN. (No matter how they were)
7. That is it.

Thanks to B Slater for these Instructions - Tested by MC Work great!
 
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#4 ·
I replaced mine at about 15,500 (they suggest 15k). Mine was really dirty. It probably has something to do with the wheeling, but I think I am going to at least look at mine every 10k or so and see if it should be replaced earlier.
 
#5 ·
Muzikman said:
I replaced mine at about 15,500 (they suggest 15k). Mine was really dirty. It probably has something to do with the wheeling, but I think I am going to at least look at mine every 10k or so and see if it should be replaced earlier.
x2
 
#7 ·
Maybe it is Down, They come both ways from factory, we did not have directions with ours, so, if you have Nissan directions, we should change that. Just let me know, Cause we have had em both ways. Not that it matters but we want to do it the way Nissansays to do it, not how they did it. A lot of us are also missing the screw that holds em in, not like you need it though.

MC
 
#8 ·
I am about to install my filters. I will let you all know the direction of the filters. Wish it would stop raining.

Edit:
I just looked this up in the service manual. Here is the text.

"The in-cabin microfilters are marked with air flow arrows. The
end of the microfilter with the arrow should face the rear of the
vehicle. The arrows should point downward."

edit2: Like MC my filter had no screw, plus the arrows were facing up. Talk about quality control
 
#9 ·
Thanks Kokopop! I went ahead and corrected my directions. I knew there was a problem with them when I did it. Just never found the real answer. But, now we have it! Quality control for sure! Whoever does that sure don't pay attention. I wonder if that could be the "Whistle" noise some people complain about? (The filters being installed up side down?)
It don't really look like it matters. Oh well, we have it right and that's what does matter!

Never pay to have that one done! You needed to go through the crap in your glove box anyways!

MC
 
#10 ·
I have a better one for ya. My filter was there with a screw when I got the truck. I took it to Nissan for the 15,000 service. I had noticed some dust if you will coming out of the vents. I open my glovebox and wouldn't ya know. No screw, No filter. They must have taken it out to replace and forgot. I only noticed this about a week ago (14,000 miles later) Stealership strikes again..

Edit: The directions say what Keith quoted from the manual. :cheers:
 
#11 ·
I tell you I am very hesitant of my local nissan service centers. Both are under new management within the past 2 months. I refuse to go to the dealer I bought the X after I got it back from an oil change (That took 2 hours) with grease all over the X. I was pissed.

Edit: Jim you need to post your Brake replacement instructions.
 
#13 ·
If you don't get the filter option can you add the filters? Is the airbox different?
 
#14 ·
I am willing to bet it will have a screw in there if you didn't get the factory option. I am guessing you can open it up, pop filters in there, and be good to go.
 
#15 ·
mine didnt have a screw... but the clip that was holding the lid on broke. actually i broke it trying to take it out. good thing i have zip ties!! now its fixed. but my filters were dirty at 8000 miles. strange. must be the air in utah! haha
 
#16 ·
Why do people even bother paying money for these "in-cabin micro filters"?
Seriously, I want to know.

I decided before even buying my X that I wasn't going to bother.
With my old Pathfinder, there were so many times in the summer, on dusty gravel roads, where dust gets inside the vehicle's cabin, that any "micro filter" would be completely useless.
 
#154 ·
OK, so 3 years later I have changed my mind ;-)

The other day I saw this posting from a fellow Canadian showing what his in-cabin air filter looked like after he had some water & mud up over his hood:
http://www.thenewx.org/forum/showpost.php?p=511782&postcount=11

I decided to check my filters, as they had never been changed/checked. I have a 2006 X that is just over 4 years old, with only 26,000 kilometers (16,155 miles).

As others have noted, the driver's side of the lower glovebox was the stiffer side to pull inwards to allow the lower glovebox to drop down. If you're having difficulty, pull the passenger side towards the driver's side, to see what you are dealing with. Then with it back in place, do the driver's side by pulling towards the passenger side, then do the passenger side and lower the glovebox door.

I removed the 'retainer cord' and attached to loop to the top of the white strut that it runs over (just to make it easier to locate later).

Here is the location of the filters, with the door and filters removed:


Here's a photo of the door that covers the filters:


Note that the slot for the tab that holds the door closed is slanted. To remove the door without any tools (and hopefully without breaking anything!), pinch the tab between two fingers, lifting up on the tab while pulling the top of the door:


The opening behind the door reveals all of the end of the driver's side filter, and a bit of the end of the passenger side filter. Grab/pinch the driver's side filter and pull it straight out. You will have to bend it to the left to get it out the glovebox opening. For the passenger side filter, work it sideways until you can pull it out of the opening.

Here is what my filters looked like. Driver's side on the top. This also shows the relationship of the door to the ends of the filters:


This is what fell out of mine after a few taps with the hand. Passenger side on the right:


As others have noted, both mine were installed with the airflow direction arrow facing upwards:



This is the part numbering on the OEM filter:


The (Canadian) prices I was told over the phone for a package of two filters were:
Napa - $22
Lordco - $31 (Fram)
Nissan Dealer - $44.74
I went to Napa, and their invoice shows the "Price" as $35.900, but the "Net" as $23.413. The part number is 4683, and the counter person said the filters are made by Wix(sp?):


Here's the comparison between the new and the old ones, after I had tapped/shaken the old ones to clear out the loose debris:


Before putting in the new filters I wanted to clean out a bit of debris that I could see in the rear of the filter cavity, but the attachment for my vacuum cleaner was too wide to get more than a couple of inches through the slot. I duct-taped a cardboard tube from a roll of paper towels to the attachment, and that extension allowed me to clean out the debris.

Putting in the new passenger side filter was easy. The driver's side was harder, as it kept 'collapsing' as I tried to push it in. The trick was to push the driver's side end of the first filter over a bit towards the passenger side, to make sure the inner end of the second filter gets started, then to make sure that the driver's side of the second filter slides past the plastic of the filter housing without catching. Then just put the door's lower tabs back into the slots, and push it into place. Don't forget to reattach the retainer cord before closing the glovebox.
 
#17 ·
dpatton said:
Why do people even bother paying money for these "in-cabin micro filters"?
Seriously, I want to know.
Seriously don't know. We survived for years without them, so why all the fuss now? I have them in my Suburban, and the only difference I could tell was that my allergies didn't seem as bad when running the AC.
If my X didn't have it, it wouldn't bother me.
 
#18 ·
Magic Rat said:
I have them in my Suburban, and the only difference I could tell was that my allergies didn't seem as bad when running the AC.
If my X didn't have it, it wouldn't bother me.
That seems like a darn good reason to me!
 
#20 ·
dpatton said:
Why do people even bother paying money for these "in-cabin micro filters"? Seriously, I want to know.
I did not choose to get the filter, but it came part of an option package that I got, so I really did not have a choice. And for me there is not much point, because unless its way too hot or cold, I prefer to have the windows down versus running the AC.
 
#21 ·
I've been wanting to check to be sure my dealer really did put one in because it seems like I got too much dust settling on my dash for what's supposed to be "fltered air." I can't believe how much force it must take to get my glove box to roll open. It looks like one peg fits deeper into the pocket than the other side and I can't get the peg to clear the whole. I'm afraid I'll break the peg and then Nissan won't replace the glove box. How much sideways force can that peg handle?

I have a sneaky suspicion that if the service dept had this much trouble getting it open, they might have just said, "what the hell. He'll never get in there to see that there's no filter anyway."

Any ideas?
 
#23 ·
Sorry to bring up an old thread. I don't even see the microfilter cover in my X. I originally purchased the X without the in-cabin microfilters. Here is a pic of what it looks like behind my glove box:



Do I just need to unscrew the screws circled in red and then I should see the microfilters inside?
 
#24 ·
No, you just a bit low. It's gonna be in/just above the yellow line here. Small rectangular door about 1.5-inches tall and 6-inches wide. May or may not have a screw in it. I've heard of some that do, mine didn't. It just snaps open, you feed one part of the filter in and over to the side then cram the other one in.

http://picasaweb.google.com/nimnifnof/MiscLinkedPics/photo#5075367982995720386
One of these days I'm gonna figure out how to post images on this site...
 
#25 ·
Ok. I replaced my filters, but with the arrows pointing UP. The owner's manual says the arrows should face downward. However, if you turn on the air and stick your fingers in there without the filters, the airflow is going UPWARD. The arrows on the filters itselves says Airflow with the arrow pointing up. So, I placed the filters with the directions of the airflow...UP. I know the manual says DOWN, but may be their wrong. Also, the manual says that the end of the tiler with the arrow should face the rear of the vehicle. Well, the filters that I got had 2 arrows on them, both on the longer sides of the filter. The way that you can place the filters is only with the shorter sides facing you (no arrows on them). So, what do they mean by the arrow should face the rear of the vehicle?
 
#26 ·
When I did mine at 10k, there was no screw holding the cover and the arrows on the old filters were pointing up. I did notice the left side of the glove box was harder to squeeze inward than the right...there was also a small retainer rope/string that was attached to the glove box and to a retractor reel behind the glove box...seemed its function was to not let the glove box fall all the way open and dump your stuff on the floor.
The instructions that came with the filters said arrows down, so that's how they went back in. I looked hard at the filters and they looked the same no matter how the arrows faced.
Logic in me leads me believe the airflow goes from top to bottom, because in my mind the filter wouldn't catch and retain debris if the airflow went upwards...gravity and all would make debris and crud fall back to the bottom of the filter chamber.

I was surprised at the amount of dirt, pollen looking fuzzes and smallish debris that were trapped in the old filters.
 
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