brus brother Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Is there any reason why I shouldn't take a Dremel to the panel behind the glovebox and cut a slot there? There doesn't seem like there's anything back there anyway and the hole would be covered by the glovebox. In essence, I'd be creating my own retrofit kit. Seriously, I could easily Dremel an opening to look like this: My thoughts exactly. I tackled my 08 Outback wagon filter change in 5 minutes today and then hit the wall on the 05 Outback wagon. No way am I going to take the car apart to change that filter. I can see how they got smart in the 08 and provided the access panel and I don't see any reason not to dremel my own access panel. Is the right side metal bracket still going to be in the way after I cut my access opening? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unfeign Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 Ladies and Gents: I present to you my cabin air filter after 56,380 miles: http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs059.snc3/14657_678750940526_1504734_41230462_8217688_n.jpg Evidently the previous owner had decided not to replace it himself after he drove through Pompeii a few days after the eruption. I guess that he wanted to collect as much black soot as possible through the intake. It looks like a dragon sneezed on it. I know that turbo engines pull in more air, and therefore more junk, but great Caeser's ghost... I had the dealership replace it while I was in there for other things, which rang in at $75. The part itself was $35, plus labor, which seems ok to me considering the time intensity involved. I may try it myself next time around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustyShackleford Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 I know that turbo engines pull in more air, and therefore more junk ... That is remarkable, indeed, that turbo engines not only pull in more air through the engine air filter, but more through the cabin air filter as well ! I guess all that speed makes you breathe harder ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hota Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 I did it! I dremeled the back of the glove box holder to allow easier access to the filter in the future. First, check out the world's nastiest cabin air filter. I just bought the car with 55,000 miles on it. I think mice were living in there since there were droppings and stuff. A shop vac does wonders for cleanup. I removed the fan and cleaned it out too - no more loud buzzing noise from the fan. After removing the glove box holder, I marked the cutting area to make sure it was aligned and that the filter would fit through. This is what the glove box holder looks like after cutting. Be sure to remove the actual glove box out of the holder since you might accidentally cut the glove box through the panel. And then here's my new 3M Filtrete filter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pedpro Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 it makes me kinda wonder since my gt didnt have a filter to begin with... So where would all those junks go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanlucas13 Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 I went with the method of going in from under the hood. Took about 10 minutes. It was very easy to get to the filter, but have one question. There were two plastic strips going over the filter flap that accessed the filter. My question is what did these strips do because when I lifted up the cover to remove the filter they broke away. Do I need to use a piece of tape to keep the flap closed or does it open and close freely? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brus brother Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 I went with the method of going in from under the hood. Took about 10 minutes. It was very easy to get to the filter, but have one question. There were two plastic strips going over the filter flap that accessed the filter. My question is what did these strips do because when I lifted up the cover to remove the filter they broke away. Do I need to use a piece of tape to keep the flap closed or does it open and close freely? I had previously taken the dash apart enough to see what a mess lay ahead when I finally got a filter in hand. There was no retrofit done on my car AND no filter when I peeked into the unit. Today I ventured in under the hood of my 05 OB. Boy is that hood access easy! I still didn't have a filter today and was just exploring. To answer your question: Not sure about those plastic strips. I was actually thinking of just cutting a filter and slipping it in under the strips without even sliding the tray out! I'm not sure how much structural integrity those two plastic strips added to the frame but I'm not an engineer and should you timing belt let loose at 90 mph I bear no responsibility. The air flow is down through the unit and it is unlikely that thing will come flying back out and where would it go anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brus brother Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 I went with the method of going in from under the hood. Took about 10 minutes. It was very easy to get to the filter, but have one question. There were two plastic strips going over the filter flap that accessed the filter. My question is what did these strips do because when I lifted up the cover to remove the filter they broke away. Do I need to use a piece of tape to keep the flap closed or does it open and close freely? Now I'm puzzled. I took the engine compartment route. You refer to a "cover" and "flap". My 05 OB came with a filter box but no filter element so when I removed the cowling I could look right in past those two plastic strips and see through to the fan below? I didn't see any "filter flap". I can feel where the Subaru filter element would clip into place but I am more inclined to cut a piece of furnace filter and slide it in (83,000 miles w/o a filter or a problem yet). Is there a "flap" that closes when the mode is set to "recirculate"? What am I missing here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanlucas13 Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 I just looked again to define what I called a flap. There is a white plastic piece that comes down onto the filter. I started up my car and turned on the vents with cover up (exposing the filter) and I could feel the air blowing. I then closed it and felt no air. I really don't see how those two little plastic strips did anything but hold the cover down onto the filter, but I could be wrong. Anybody else run into this issue or know what I am doing wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanlucas13 Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 Here are some quick pix I took of it. Sorry crappy pix, cell phone. http://ryanlucas.net/images/pic002.jpg http://ryanlucas.net/images/pic003.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brus brother Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 I have the same. The two strips of plastic are flimsy and I can't see what they are there for. Edited because my earlier post was just plain wrong! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanlucas13 Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 Can anyone with a 07 verify what I have? I just need to know if the cover stays on top of the filter. A quick check would be to try and move the white piece up to see if it stays with those plastic strips. I put tape to hold mine down for the time being. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hota Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 I think what that "flap" is is the panel that closes to recirculate air from the inside and opens to draw fresh air from the outside. If you turn your car on and toggle the recirculate switch, you can see the panel rotate up and down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanlucas13 Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 I am not sure, when I first looked at it, the flap was down on the filter and my vents were set to bring in fresh air. So, I am not sure how it works. Can anyone look for me? All that is involved is opening the hood and removing the 3 pop pins on the top passenger side. Remove part of the weather stripping and lift up. Look down and you will see what I took a picture of....turn the vents on recirculate and normal to see if that cover moves. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 I just changed mine and shot a video of it if you guys want to see how it's done with the retrofit kit. Sorry about the poor video quality since the camera is from my RC Airplane. I use the Absorber filter media that you can buy at Target for about $10 and get 6 filters out of it. It also contains activated charcoal to reduce odors coming into the car. I change out the filter every 3 months. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0Mm--92aTw]YouTube- Changing Cabin Air Filter[/ame] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brus brother Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 I'm jealous. Did you install the retrofit in your 05 of was it already in you Legacy when you got it or dealer installed later on? My Outback 05 didn't qualify for the retrofit by Subaru and the left side doesn't have a pivot point as yours does but rather one of those darned screw points like on the right side that then requires that the whole shebang be dropped to access the back area. I see Subaru sells the retrofit kit for about $100 but am considering just cutting the back with a dremel but that would still leave me with the left side "fixed" pivot point or the alternative of dropping the dash every few months... I have 83K miles w/o a filter in the cage and going strong... thank you SOA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 Mine was factory installed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hota Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 I am not sure, when I first looked at it, the flap was down on the filter and my vents were set to bring in fresh air. So, I am not sure how it works. Can anyone look for me? All that is involved is opening the hood and removing the 3 pop pins on the top passenger side. Remove part of the weather stripping and lift up. Look down and you will see what I took a picture of....turn the vents on recirculate and normal to see if that cover moves. Thanks. I checked it out. The white flap does rotate to block the filter from the fresh air when set to recirculate. Turn the car on and toggle the reciruclate button. You will see it open and close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanlucas13 Posted November 23, 2009 Share Posted November 23, 2009 Thanks Hota.....I checked mine. Doesn't move anymore. Awesome. Now I have to figure out what to do to snap it back in place, hopefully that it just got popped out of the socket. Looks like the dealer is going to fix it...The arm snapped off that controls the recirculate flap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brus brother Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 OK Everything worked like a charm. Retrofit all the parts for the 08 into my 05. Since I also own an 08, I was able to carve the underside of the 08 shape of the filter tray onto the 05 tray which was just a straight box. This ramp now allows the tray to wiggle out past the dash support. One small problem is that the two self tapping screws that I ordered to use next to the latch don't really hold. I am not too concerned that the front bumper will fall off but I guess I'll use a little siliconized acrylic so they don't just fall out. Thanks to all who did the leg work ahead of me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brus brother Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Just checked it out again. The screws don't hold because they line up where a fastener snapped into a hole... nothing to grab... so the question is for those who did this, what are these two screws supposed to be holding on to?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catalyst Posted January 25, 2010 Share Posted January 25, 2010 How do you access this from under the hood? Reading through the pages, did I miss it? "This is an adventure." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanlucas13 Posted January 26, 2010 Share Posted January 26, 2010 Yeah it's post #130. I did it this way but you have to be very careful that you have your recirculate button turn off so you have access to the filter. Otherwise, you will have some major issues if you break anything down there. So pop off the cover, grab the filter out, and put in a new one. 5 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catalyst Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 Holy shit, what a pain in the ass. First I tried the method from under the hood and while I could get in there, the filter would not squeeze into the space. :/ So, I took apart half my dash and such as I didnt have a retro... low and behold, NO FILTER in there at all! Lol. "This is an adventure." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanlucas13 Posted February 6, 2010 Share Posted February 6, 2010 That's weird that you had issues getting the filter in from under the hood. I just bent the filter a little bit and it sat right in place. Maybe I just got lucky. But, next time I will go through the glove box...it looks even easier. Since my car is a 2007, I just need to remove the little box in the glove compartment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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