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Stupid A/C Filter TR


EWolfe

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As part of my 10,000 mile tune-up, the guy at Schucks asked me a new question:

"Do you want the air conditioning filter too?"

Foolishly, I said yes, and I should have changed my mind when he said it needed to be ordered.

With a promise that he would tell me where the filter was located, I added the $18 to the tune-up kit.

I picked it up today, and of course the "guy" wasn't there.

Looking through the owners manual, under 'filter, A/C', all it said was "filter should be replaced every 30,000 miles, see dealer for service."

What? I had just paid twenty bucks for a paper filter, and there was NO WAY I was going to pay another $80 to get it installed! Checking under 'air conditioning', it said the filter was located "under the base of the windshield".

Aonther 1/2 hour of searching under the hood and under the dash reveiled not a clue, and the firewall under the hood was definitely out. Opening the glove compartment, I saw a duct system behind it.

I removed the glove after a little head-scratching, found the filter cover, and found a brace sitting squarely across the 8" x10" filter access panel. The brace was secured well behind the dash well past the center dash console, and anchored behind the dash corner by the passengers door.

Shit. wazzup.gif

To remove the dash required a loosening of 2/3 of the affair, and a wiggling of interconnected pieces.

By this time I had removed 16 screw, several bolts, and 4 plastic clips, and was just getting to the blocking brace:

3712car_filter_001-med.jpg

 

Finally, by pulling the middle dash delicately to one side I was able to remove the 6 bolts on the brace, and get full access to the filter assembly:

3712car_filter_002-med.jpg

 

A run of wires were unclipped and pulled aside to finally pull the filter, and:

3712car_filter_004-med.jpg

My car has 136,000 miles on it, and it probably had been never changed. For $100 or so, given the parts and labor, little wonder!

I wondered how much crap I kicked up, every time I cranked the heat up, as I installed the new filter:

3712car_filter_005-med.jpg

 

Another 45 minutes later, I had the whole affair back together, and zero left over parts:

3712car_filter_009-med.jpg

 

Approach: 10 minutes to Schucks, 40 seconds to parking lot

Rating: A 3-hour endeavor, hard moderate-mechanic.

Gear: Socket set with swivel and extension, screw gun with extension, 2 Red Hook IPA's and patience.

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Don't you think you need a new hobby or life when you actually spend the time photographing changing your own AC filter ?

 

 

Perhaps the next time I get shit faced drunk and take a dump on my neighbor's lawn I'll document that and do my first TR for cc.com too.

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