'02 Honda Odyssey cabin air filter replacement

Just for the edification of anyone Usenetting or Googling...

I've just got through a chilly February episode replacing the cabin filter
in my neighbor's van. It had never been done before on this particular
vehicle, so the plastic dash reinforcing strip was still there.

The Purolator instructions found here
http://ecat.arvinmeritor.com/smartlink/?partnum=C45459
were slightly flawed. Details follow...

Tools needed:
* 8mm socket, ratchet, 3" extension.
* Larger Phillips screwdriver (not the very biggest one, but the one just
down from that).
* Small flat-blade screwdriver (for CAREFUL prying).
* A very short hacksaw.

Procedure:
* Sharply pull up and remove the scuff plate from the door sill.
* Use flat-blade screwdriver to pull rubber door frame trim up so you can
pop the kick panel free from the body. (This has a fuse box door in it).
* Leave glove box SHUT.
* Using Phillips screwdriver, remove black screws from hinges at bottom.
* Open glove box a bit and lift it free. You do not have to remove the
rollers at this point.
* If the wide horizontal plastic bar at the bottom of the aperture is still
there, you will notice that it has several slits molded into its ends.
These are alignment marks for your hacksaw. Now cut the damn thing off at
the marks and throw it away.
* Once the plastic bar has been cut off, you need to remove the yellow
screws just outboard of your cut lines.
* Now remove ONLY the OUTBOARD yellow 8mm BOLT on the unpainted metal bar
that is now exposed. You will probably have to push the dashboard plastic
out of the way to get at the bolt.
* You will be completely unable to remove or reinstall the INBOARD yellow
bolt on account of the center console being very much in the way.
* Therefore, you must carefully BEND the unpainted metal bar downwards
until you can release the plastic door for the filter.
* To release the plastic door, use the flat-blade screwdriver to pop the
top latch open.
* Change filter, then replace door. To replace, just aim it straight on,
then push bottom and top in place at the same time. Don't try to hook the
bottom in place first, then pivot it up to engage the top. That will not
work.
* Bend unpainted metal bar back up, and bolt the outboard end in place with
its yellow BOLT.
* Push down on the inboard end of the unpainted bar so you can get the
inboard screw hole to line up, then reinstall the yellow SCREW.
* Using your common sense, remove the rollers from the sides of the glove
box.
* Hold glove box in place and latch it.
* Install black screws in the bottom of the hinges.
* Open glove box enough to get your hands inside and reinstall the rollers.
* You're done!

Repeat in a year or so. What the hell was Honda thinking when they added
this feature?

 

TeGGeR® wrote:

well, i've been thinking of ways to retrofit my 89 civic with one because:

1. they keep the interior of the car cleaner. that includes things like
the instrument gauges and interior electronics.
2. they stop things like the a/c and heater matrices clogging up.
especially the a/c evaporator. when condensate wets the fins, dust
sticks and dries in place. that leads to very expensive and/or tedious
cleaning when the air flow gets so low, the car won't heat, cool, or
most important, defrost properly. ask me how i know that!

agreed, it would be good if they were located/fitted so that they were
more easily accessible, but in principle, they're a good idea.
especially filters with activated charcoal which can reduce pollutants,
allergens & odors.

 

TeGGeR® wrote:

well, i've been thinking of ways to retrofit my 89 civic with one because:

1. they keep the interior of the car cleaner. that includes things like
the instrument gauges and interior electronics.
2. they stop things like the a/c and heater matrices clogging up.
especially the a/c evaporator. when condensate wets the fins, dust
sticks and dries in place. that leads to very expensive and/or tedious
cleaning when the air flow gets so low, the car won't heat, cool, or
most important, defrost properly. ask me how i know that!

agreed, it would be good if they were located/fitted so that they were
more easily accessible, but in principle, they're a good idea.
especially filters with activated charcoal which can reduce pollutants,
allergens & odors.

 

Shee-it. I think the boy's actually got it.

 

Shee-it. I think the boy's actually got it.

 

sales.

"little billy has allergies. so we NEED a van with an air/pollen filter"

then they drive around with the windows open.

and of course the extra added maintenance is a boon to the repair shops
and filter makers.

what would happen if youd have just taken it out and left it like that?

 

sales.

"little billy has allergies. so we NEED a van with an air/pollen filter"

then they drive around with the windows open.

and of course the extra added maintenance is a boon to the repair shops
and filter makers.

what would happen if youd have just taken it out and left it like that?

 

nothing at all. It would behave as all cars did prior to having such
idiot things.

 

nothing at all. It would behave as all cars did prior to having such
idiot things.

 

Go to www.odyclub.com and you can find instructions with pictures as well as
almost anything else you want to know about the Odyssey.......

 

Go to www.odyclub.com and you can find instructions with pictures as well as
almost anything else you want to know about the Odyssey.......

 

I had a look there before attempting this. I found nothing related to the
cabin filter replacement. Far more informative was the Purolator site.

The aftermarket filter purchased by my neighbor also came with a set of
instructions, but they were appallingly written and would have been little
help had I relied on them.

 

I had a look there before attempting this. I found nothing related to the
cabin filter replacement. Far more informative was the Purolator site.

The aftermarket filter purchased by my neighbor also came with a set of
instructions, but they were appallingly written and would have been little
help had I relied on them.

 

I suggested to my neighbor that he might want to leave it out for that
reason, but he's convinced it's doing some good for their lungs, especially
when he saw how astonishingly filthy the old one was. The most hilarious
thing about this? He SMOKES! But not in the car.

We replaced the engine's air filter as well (old one was OEM Filtech). The
old one was fairly clean. The cabin one was a deep grey and covered in
particles and leaves. I'm a bit surprised at the difference in
contamination. I can only assume either dealer had changed the engine's
filter at some point, or the convoluted engine air intake knocks most of
the shit out of the air before it meets the filter.

 

I suggested to my neighbor that he might want to leave it out for that
reason, but he's convinced it's doing some good for their lungs, especially
when he saw how astonishingly filthy the old one was. The most hilarious
thing about this? He SMOKES! But not in the car.

We replaced the engine's air filter as well (old one was OEM Filtech). The
old one was fairly clean. The cabin one was a deep grey and covered in
particles and leaves. I'm a bit surprised at the difference in
contamination. I can only assume either dealer had changed the engine's
filter at some point, or the convoluted engine air intake knocks most of
the shit out of the air before it meets the filter.

 

From the link at
http://www.odyclub.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17081&perpage=15&highlight=filter&pagenumber=2
download the pdf at http://users.accesscomm.ca/jigsaw/filter.pdf

 

From the link at
http://www.odyclub.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17081&perpage=15&highlight=filter&pagenumber=2
download the pdf at http://users.accesscomm.ca/jigsaw/filter.pdf

 

:

--------------------------------------

Big downside to leaving the cabin filter out would be the eventual loss
of efficiency as your AC and heater fins get a coating of dirt on them
(and a bu&&er to clean). Might not matter to somebody who lives in a
climate it never gets too hot or too cold, but when it's -40, I'd like
to know my heater is able to transfer every possible bit of heat to the
cabin.

It doesn't take much accumulation of dirt on cooling / heating fins to
cut their efficiency. Water distillers are a good example. If the water
that comes out of a distiller is HOT, but used to be cold when you first
got it, the condenser fins are (sometimes imperceptibly) dirty.

'Curly'

 

:

--------------------------------------

Big downside to leaving the cabin filter out would be the eventual loss
of efficiency as your AC and heater fins get a coating of dirt on them
(and a bu&&er to clean). Might not matter to somebody who lives in a
climate it never gets too hot or too cold, but when it's -40, I'd like
to know my heater is able to transfer every possible bit of heat to the
cabin.

It doesn't take much accumulation of dirt on cooling / heating fins to
cut their efficiency. Water distillers are a good example. If the water
that comes out of a distiller is HOT, but used to be cold when you first
got it, the condenser fins are (sometimes imperceptibly) dirty.

'Curly'

 

Could be bad things. Cabin air filters first widely appeared in the mid-90s,
after a rash of evaporator failures. For example, the 1993 Volvo 850 was the
first Volvo to use R-134a. But within a year reports of pinhole leaks in the
evaporator began surfacing. By 1994 the reports were a flood, and the cause
was identified. It seems the evaporator designed for R-134a was being
corroded by dust and pollen mixed with normal condensation. In 1995 Volvo
added a cabin air filter to cure the problem and offered it as a retrofit.
Current production Volvos run the A/C fan for a while after shutdown to dry
the evaporator.

I've heard of other manufacturers that had similar experiences, but I wasn't
close enough to the other makes to follow them. Anyway, I consider the cabin
air filter to be a necessary fact of life for cars with R-134a A/C.

There is also a line of thought that cabin air filters are valuable for
preventing evaporator mildew, which is a recurring complaint in many cars
and a devil to cure. See
http://refrigerants.dupont.com/Suva/en_US/pdf/macs_200404.pdf

Mike